CHS+-+In+Memoriam+-+Ms+Carolyn+Johnson


 * Carolyn Johnson**
 * [[image:columbiahslibrary/carolyn%20johnson%20pic.jpg width="343" height="359"]] ||

1951 - August 28, 2010 ||
 * In Memoriam**
 * We miss Carolyn Johnson, well respected Language Arts teacher at Columbia High School, who died just before the start of the 2010-2011 school year.**

Carolyn worked with incoming freshmen in the “Bridge to Success” program and had many of those students in her English I classes. She took her job as “bridge” seriously, guiding, tutoring, and encouraging these students to step up and reach her high classroom standards. Carolyn taught AP Lit and Supplemental English with the same dedication and enthusiasm. Students often returned to thank her for preparing them well for college work. Carolyn came to the CHS Library often – with her classes to do research projects, to peruse our science fiction collection, to do refresher research in preparation for teaching or just to visit and see how we were faring. We miss her cheerful presence, her sense of humor, her delight in new technology, her curiosity, and her heartfelt opinions. Honor Carolyn’s memory with a gift to a CHS Scholarship Fund established in her name; think of it as a 60th birthday gift. This organization gives out thousand dollar scholarships to students who show financial need. A thousand dollars can decrease a student’s loan debt or cover book expenses for a year. If this fund can reach the $20,000 mark, the scholarship will be endowed in perpetuity, Otherwise the fund will award scholarships in Carolyn’s name until the money runs out. We are one quarter of the way to that $20,000 goal. Donate online at chssf.org or send your donation to CHSSF, PO Box 315, Maplewood, NJ 07040 and indicate that your donation is in Carolyn’s name. Please give generously (preferably by April 30th) to honor Carolyn’s memory. The first scholarship will be awarded this May (2011).

Obituary: [] Carolyn Johnson made her transition on Aug. 28, 2010. The celebration of her life will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's A.M.E. Church, 15-21 Sanford St., East Orange, N.J. Interment will be in Fairmount Cemetery, Newark, N.J. Visitation is Friday from 9 a.m. until time of service at the church. Arrangements are Whigham Funeral Home, 580 Dr. Martin L. King Blvd., Newark, N.J. A 1995 graduate of Montclair State College, Carolyn was an English teacher at Columbia High School, South Orange, N.J. She was the beloved mother of Jennifer Johnson Hill; former wife of Hanif S. Abdul-Amin; daughter of Queen Esther McKinney and the late Charles Phillip McKinney and dear sister of William, Phillip, Marlin and the late Robert McKinney. She is also survived by a host of other relatives and friends.

Published in Star-Ledger on September 9, 2010