A flocked white Christmas tree with silver bows and ornaments stands in the narthex of Virginia Street Baptist Church. Strewn in white lights and surrounded by reindeer on a bed of cotton snow, it is the work of someone who has an eye for color and details.
If you ask Kathy Johnson where she picked up that skill, she’ll tell you it was her father’s influence.
“I guess it comes from my Daddy being a sign painter,” said Johnson, 69, a Hopkinsville native. “I always wanted to be a sign painter, too, but he said it wasn’t a girl thing. He wanted my brother to follow in his footsteps.”
Still, Johnson tagged along when her father painted billboards on Fort Campbell Boulevard. She climbed ladders with Charles Brown and stood on scaffolding boards while he worked.
Then as a young adult she found her own creative outlet and learned about home décor and how to arrange flowers. Over a period of decades, she’s become the person her church relies on to decorate for holidays and special occasions.
Now when she climbs a ladder, Johnson is decorating a tree for Christmas — or any other holiday that sparks her interest, including Valentine’s Day, Easter and St. Patrick’s Day.
Johnson has served for two pastors at Virginia Street Baptist — the Rev. A.R. Lasley and now the Rev. Dr. M.O. Fort.
Johnson’s trees have become so lovely, they naturally draw people who want a pretty backdrop for photos and Christmas cards, said Diane Croney Turner, who also attends Virginia Street Baptist.
Johnson says her mother influenced her, as well. Margaret Cushenberry Brown tended to countless family members when they were ill or aging.
“She loved every minute of it and they loved her,” Johnson recalled. “She took care of my grandparents, my uncles and my aunts — anybody that got sick, she took them in and she took care of them.”
Serving others takes many forms. Johnson found her way in the church.
When Virginia Street Baptist planned the construction of its new church building several years ago, it was Johnson who led on decisions about colors in the sanctuary. Although many churches will add a splash of color with red or burgundy or blue pew cushions and carpeting, Johnson knew that a neutral color would provide a sort of canvas that didn’t interfere with the décor of special occasions, such as weddings. Photographers have told Johnson they see what she did and they appreciate it.
Today, Johnson is grateful she can still help the church with decorations. She suffered a health scare a few years ago that could have sidelined her permanently. The day after Thanksgiving 2020, Johnson suffered a brain aneurysm. A year earlier, she had retired from Copar, where she helped build radiators for 31 years.
“That was a scary thing,” she says.
When she passed out and dropped to the floor, her husband, Ronald Johnson, heard her go down. Initially, he thought she was playing around. But when she didn’t respond to him, he called for help.
Johnson was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where she remained unconscious for several days. After two brain surgeries and treatment that kept her in the hospital for more than a month, she was well enough to go home.
“A lot of people don’t come out that well, but I could walk and talk and sing,” she said.
Every time Johnson sees her doctor for a check-up, he tells her she is a “walking miracle.”
She agrees.
Johnson and her husband each had two children from a previous marriage when they married. And they had one child together. Today the family includes their five children, Nicole Johnson, Angie Atkins, Ronald Johnson, Reko Ware and Rhonda Ervin, and 20 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
This Christmas, Johnson will be in Louisville with family. When she returns home, it will be time to start thinking about the next holiday and how to decorate the church. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
