In Memoriam
Marie Margaret Johansen, 82
August 26, 1939 - June 5, 2022
EDMESTON - God needed another angel and he brought the best one ever home to him in the early morning hours Sunday June 5, 2022. Marie Margaret Johansen departed for her heavenly reward from her home, surrounded by her loving children and grandchildren.
Mom was born on August 26, 1939 in Saint Johns, Newfoundland. She was the oldest of five children born to Augustine and Margaret (Murphy) Murphy and grew up on tiny Bell Island off the coast of Newfoundland where her father was a tinsmith for the island’s iron ore mine. The path life led her on in her teen years was not one she would have chosen for herself but it truly shaped the woman and mother she would become. At sixteen years old, she left the pastoral setting of the island behind along with her brothers, friends and teachers and moved to New York City with her mother and sister where she immediately went to work as a file clerk to support the family. It was a difficult transition but she adjusted with the grace and humility that defined her. She met Carl Johansen through her work and turned him down six times before finally allowing him to take her out on their first date. They married in August of 1958 and her joy was compounded as they were able to bring all three of her brothers from the orphanage in Newfoundland to New York and reunite the family prior to the wedding. The circumstances from this period of her life reinforced and influenced the priorities that governed the remainder of her life.
