“ Johnnie”
Johnnie was born Ethel Lillian Himes, the youngest child of Nelson W. Himes, Sr. and Lillian May Johnson. She was born at home at 20 Spring Street, Westerly, RI on May 17, 1920. She was preceded by the births of her siblings, Helen, Nelson Jr. and Louise.
Several things shaped her young life and made her the person she became. When she was 2, Johnnie fell and hit her face on a coal hod (a type of bucket that held coal for the stove or fireplace). It caused a deep cut that severed some of the muscles that controlled the movement of her eye and caused it to go everywhere instead of the direction she was trying to see. This caused difficulty in being able to read and do schoolwork, as well as problems with her appearance. Her parents were already having a hard time financially, dealing with the medical problems that her sister, Louise, was having with her feet. There just was no money to try to correct the damage to Johnnie’s eye, even if a treatment had existed at the time.
All this caused self-esteem problems that made it difficult for her to cope and compete as all young people naturally do. Her “date” for her high school Senior prom was her beloved (married) brother, Nelson. Also, her much revered oldest sister, Helen, taught in the same school that Johnnie attended. Her teachers reported everything from the tiniest infraction to the biggest errors that she made. It was difficult for both sisters.
After she graduated from high school Johnnie attended nursing school. She unfortunately caught every disease she came in contact with!! However, it was at school that she met a doctor who had just developed a new surgical procedure that he asked if he could use to try to fix her eye. She and her parents said yes and the procedure was performed. It wasn’t 100% successful, but it improved her appearance and enabled her to see a little better. As years went by and she became elderly she lost most of the sight she had in it.
It was soon after that that she met her husband of almost 50 years, James ‘Butch’ Southworth. He was her patient at Westerly Hospital when he had his appendix removed. Not too much is known about their courtship but they were married in her parents living room on January 16, 1943.
Together they had 2 children, Barbara & Jimmie, who were raised in Pawcatuck CT. Their marriage came to a close with her husband’s death in November 1983. He had lived long enough to see and hold his first Great-Grandson, Kyle Joseph Buck.
As the years passed her son, Jimmie, passed away on May 10, 1996. It broke her heart. Shortly afterwards she moved to Vermont to be closer to her daughter and the rest of the ‘Southworth Family Nuts”.
She was a woman of deep and abiding faith, who went home to be with the Lord she loved so much, on July 13, 2008 at the age of 88. She passed away surrounded by love from her family and the staff of Genesis Eldercare, who had cared for her the last 5 years of her life.
Her extended family will gather to lay her to rest beside her beloved son, Jimmie, on Saturday October 25, 2008.
We will pay our respects to the “oldest nut”, who has fallen from the tree.
