Vera Ann (Ponder) Johnson

Funeral service for Vera Ann (Ponder) Johnson, age 92, of Sulphur Springs, Texas will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, July 20, 2024 at Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Restlawn Memorial Park. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Vera Ann passed away on July 16, 2024 at Christus Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs. Officiating the ceremony will be Jason Dietze. 

Vera was born on November 5, 1931 in Dallas, Texas to John Truitt and Josephine (Anderson) Ponder. She graduated from Sulphur Spring High School at the age of sixteen and then attended East Texas State Teacher’s College in Commerce. She married Arlis Paul Johnson on June 24, 1950 at the First United Methodist Church in Sulphur Springs. Paul’s job with El Paso Natural Gas led them to move to New Mexico when Vera was just nineteen. She spent the first fifteen years of married life in West Texas, New Mexico, and the Texas Panhandle while raising her three kids, before the family returned to Sulphur Springs. Vera retired from Hopkins County Farm Bureau after twenty-five years as office manager. 

She was an active member of Community Bible Study. Other hobbies included reading, gardening, and baking for others. She also enjoyed welcoming new neighbors in her community in the Stonebriar neighborhood. In retirement, she shared her love of books by reading to children at local elementary schools. Vera regularly visited residents of retirement homes with her beloved dog, Coco. Vera was a lifetime member of the United Methodist Women and the Wesley Sunday School class. She recently joined Shooks Chapel Methodist Church.

Vera lived the last year and a half at Wesley House Assisted Living in Sulphur Springs. We would like to thank the director, Kyra Manning, and all the loving staff for providing a safe and enjoyable environment for her last days. 

She is survived by her daughter, Kamilla Ann Fenati and husband, George; son, Sam Johnson and wife, Lisa; grandchildren, Michelle Cohrs (Joey), Kristen Fenati, Lindsey Bienvenu (Nathan), Justin Johnson and Jenni Johnson; great-grandchildren, Clinton Cohrs, Maren Cohrs, Emery Bienvenu and Bowen Bienvenu.

Vera was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Paul Johnson; son, Kurt Johnson, and brothers, Ronald Ponder and Donald Ponder.

Donations and memorial contributions may be made to The Friends of the Sulphur Springs Public Library at 611 N. Davis Street Sulphur Springs, TX 75482 or to the Sulphur Springs Animal Shelter at 1313 Hillcrest Drive N Sulphur Springs, TX 75482.