Barbara Johnson Tribute

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Comment by David Johnson on January 13, 2008 at 6:25am

We hope to be of help in offering my mother's books to those who are in need of encouragement and hope during their difficult time of physical and emotional distress.

Comment by David Johnson on January 13, 2008 at 6:24am

At the time of her death, she was in discussions with her publisher, Thomas Nelson, Inc., about a book to be titled, Joyfully, Barb, which she jokingly referred to her as “my sixth last book.” She explained the count in her 2007 book, Humor Me, I’m Over the Hill, noting that each book she’d written since the brain tumor was diagnosed was published as her “last book ever.” She wrote, “I decided since I wasn’t moving on to perpetual retirement, I might as well get back to work. . . . Frankly, it’s a little embarrassing, after all these enthusiastic farewells, to still be down here gathering goofy stuff when I thought I’d be singing with the saints by now. But here it is 2007, and I’m still living, still laughing, and still growing older. So once again, I’m loading up another book with lots of laughter and sending it out to you, hoping it will encourage you to search out all the fun and joy hidden in each new day God grants you on our beautiful—and boundlessly funny—Planet Earth. I don’t know about you, but I now plan to live happily to be one hundred—or die trying!”

Comment by David Johnson on January 13, 2008 at 6:20am

Well-known author and Women of Faith speaker emeritus Barbara Johnson, 79, died Sunday in Palm Springs, Calif., of cancer. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 2001, she valiantly fought central nervous system lymphoma for six years, as well as adult onset diabetes. During her final illness, she amazed the publishing world by adding four more titles to her long list of bestsellers, including a poignantly humorous book about her cancer, Plant a Geranium in Your Cranium.