Mary Isabel Rankin Johnson

Mary Isabel Rankin Johnson, 91, formerly of 103 Vale St., Meadville and a current resident of Wesbury United Methodist Retirement Community, died there Saturday, October 05, 2002.

She was born in Conneaut Lake February 6, 1911, a daughter of the late Edgar Addison and May Frampton Rankin.  She married Harold T. Johnson in January 1941 and he preceded her in death in 1992.

She was a graduate of Conneaut Lake High School and the Pittsburgh Art Institute.  She was employed as a graphic artist by the Pittsburgh Press and several Cleveland, Ohio department stores.  She worked for nearly 34 years for the Keystone View Company of Meadville.  Mrs. Johnson served as an active member of the Crawford County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and as regent for the chapter from 1974 to 1977.  She served as the chairperson of the PA Genealogical Records section of the DAR and as the organization’s state press book and public relations chairperson.  She authored many genealogy family publications which remain in the library at the Daughter’s of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C.

She was a gifted graphic artist at Keystone, developing the company’s Keystone Travel Book catalogues.  She served as an independent contractor for several photographic studios, assisting them with retouching portrait negatives of senior classes for Penn State Univ. and for many other photographic businesses throughout Western PA.

Survivors include 4 sons, Eric Johnson and his wife Connie of Erie; Harold Theodore Johnson, II and his wife Penny of Lutz, FL; Jon Blythe Johnson of Linesville; and Lance Johnson and his wife Diane of Meadville; 6 grandsons; several great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.  In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a grandson, Theodore Michael Johnson; 3 sisters, Emily Rankin Smith, Jane Holt, and Eleanor Rankin; and 2 brothers, Edgar A. Rankin, Jr. and Thomas H.B. Rankin.

Calling hours will be today (Monday) from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Robert W. Waid Funeral Home, 581 Chestnut St., Meadville with a DAR service at 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

A funeral service will be Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at the funeral home with Rev. Bruce Cote, Pastor of High Street Community Church, Conneaut Lake officiating.

Burial will be in Linesville Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum, 423 Chestnut St., Meadville, PA 16335.