Estella Johnson Obituary (2024)

Estella Kling Johnson passed away June 8, 2024, in San Diego, CA with her loving family at her side. She was 91. Stella was born Estella Mae Kling March 23, 1933, in Coatesville, PA to the late William Harrison Kling and Mildred Kathryn (Barnhart) Kling. Following high school in NJ and PA, she attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts. While at Cornell in 1952 Stella met her future husband the late Raymond Edward Johnson. They were married in 1955 in West Milton, PA and began their long life together on the Johnson family farm in Easton, NY. They celebrated 70 years from their first date and 67 years married before Ray’s passing in 2022. In 1955 Stella began her career as an educator in the Hoosac Valley Central School District in Schaghticoke, NY. She earned her Master of Arts in Education from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, and retired in 1997. Stella was a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was an avid genealogist and was active in the Willard’s Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Easton Library, and the Easton Book Club. Upon retiring from the farm, Stella and Ray enjoyed living some of their final years in San Diego, CA. Stella is survived by her sister Harriet Veronica (Kling) Kuhnlein (Anacortes, WA), her sons William Richard Johnson (Boston, MA), Edward Raymond (Andrea) Johnson (Easton, NY), and Robert David (Kelly Goodwin) Johnson (San Diego, CA), her grandsons Trevor James (Aimee) Johnson, Nicholas Joel (Molly) Johnson, Graham Kenyon (Emily) Johnson, and Kai Dylan Johnson, her great-grandchildren Sawyer James Johnson, Amelia Grace Johnson, and Easton Kaye Johnson, and various nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was predeceased by her husband Raymond (2022) and her son James Merrill Johnson (1975). Private services will be held in California and New York with burial at Elmwood Cemetery, Schaghticoke, NY. Online condolences and messages to the family may be made at www.flynnbrosinc.com.