Ruth Ellyn Johnson

Ruth Ellyn Johnson, 81 of Grants Pass passed away Tuesday, August 20, 2013 at Highland House Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, September 7, 2013, 11:00 am at Stephens Family Chapel, 1629 Williams Hyw., Grants Pass, Oregon 97527. In lieu of flowers please make donations to; Wycliffe Bible Translators, P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862. She was born Ruth Ellyn Dyk to Lambertus (Bert) Dyk and Katherina Ratzlaff Morgan in Bozeman, Montana on January 24, 1932. In 1941 the family moved to Thorp, Washington where Ruth attended school. After high school she attended Seattle Pacific College where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1955. She was also included in the 1955 edition of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. She taught her first year in Burien, Washington. On June 9, 1956 she married Carl H. Johnson in Ellensburg, Washington who survives. She then taught fourth grade classes in Whittier, California. She was used as a Master Teacher for Whittier College and had a life teaching credential in California. She and her family moved to Grants Pass, Oregon in 1964. She was very active in the churches she attended and also worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship, Southern Oregon Adoptive Rights (SOAR) Movement. English as a Second Language (ESL) and was an instructor for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). In addition to her husband survivors include her son, Clark Johnson of Phoenix, Arizona, three grandchildren, Christopher Lewis of Grants Pass, Joshua Lewis of Lincoln City, Oregon and Carlea Johnson of Laguna Hills, California. One brother Robert Dyk of Nine Mile Falls, Washington and three sisters, Esther Stout of Kirkland, Washington, Rhoda Ensign of Yakima, Washington and Dorothy Moulton of Beaverton, Oregon. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Marilyn Lewis.