Nell Kirkland Johnson, 85, of Tifton died Sunday, February 14, 2010, at Maple Court Assisted Living. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Dr. Glenn Martin will officiate with burial to follow in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Her “adopted sons”, Albert Culbreath, Buck Hartley, Bill Kirkland, Stuart Pocknee, Coy Crowley, Craig Kvien, Ralph Hammond, Jim McAllister, Dave Bosse, Jeff Robbins and Wendell Adams will serve as pallbearers and honorary pallbearers. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, from 1:00 p.m. until the hour of the service at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Mrs. Johnson was born on October 14, 1924 in Coffee County and was the daughter of Zean William Kirkland and Clyde O’Shields Kirkland, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Albert C. “Corky” Johnson; and one brother, Zean William Kirkland, Jr., who died in 1991.
Nell was a registered nurse, having a long career in “school” nursing and public health. During World War II, she was a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps. She helped organize the Georgia School Nurses Association in 1966.
Combined with a nursing career with art, she taught watercolor painting for many years. She was co-founder of the Georgia Watercolor Society and had exhibited her art throughout the Southeast.
In 1998, she was awarded the Good Citizens Award by the Tifton Exchange Club and, in 2002, was awarded the Arts Citizen of the Year by the Tifton-Tift County Arts Council. In 1989, she was honored by the Parents of Retarded Citizens in Troup County with a plaque for her work with their children. She was a member of Tifton’s First United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Johnson is survived by one daughter, Meredith L. Johnson of Houston, Texas; Gail Eldridge of Houston, Texas; one nephew and three nieces, all of Atlanta; and one nephew of Albany.
Memorial gifts may be made to Hospice of Tiftarea, 101-4 West 8th St., Tifton, GA 31794 or the American Red Cross, 211 West 4th St., Tifton, GA 31794.