Dr. Rubye J. Johnson

Dr. Rubye J. Johnson, 94, activist, educator, businesswoman, and community matriarch departed this life on Thursday, January 30, 2025. She was born on December 25, 1930, in Lancaster, South Carolina to the late Mrs. Pearlie Johnson Reed and Mr. Willie Smith. Dr. Johnson was educated in the public schools of Lancaster County, South Carolina. She graduated as Valedictorian of herclass in 1949 at Lancaster Training School (later named Barr Street High School). She earned the A. B. Degree (cum laude) in English with a minor in Social Studies, having graduated from Benedict College, Columbia, SC in 1953. She earned the Master of Arts Degree in Teaching English as A Secondary Language with an emphasis in Guidance from the Teacher’s College, Columbia University, New York City, NY in 1964. Dr. Johnson, subsequently, had conferred upon her the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Benedict College and the honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Faith Grant College of Birmingham, Alabama. She received numerous awards and accolades during her career to include the Order of the Palmetto awarded by Governor Mark Sanford in 2005. Dr. Johnson was a faithful member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from her early years of living until death. She grew up in the Saint Paul AME Church of Lancaster SC where her mother’s home was just outside the back door of the church. Upon marrying the late Joseph B. Johnson, Sr., she relocated to Sumter, SC and joined First Baptist Church. Having kept ties to the AME Church, she would later return as a member of Mount Pisgah AME - 217 West Bartlette Street, Sumter, SC, where she served faithfully until her passing. She served joyfully and dutifully as a Trustee, Steward, Class Leader, Pastor’s Aid member, Social Action lead, Lay member and Choir member. One of her favorite hymns was “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”. Dr. Johnson worked 33 years as Executive Director of the Wateree Community Actions, Inc. (WCAI), serving Lee, Clarendon, Kershaw, Richland and Sumter counties of South Carolina. After successfully developing, implementing and managing state and federally funded and regionally supported anti-poverty programs, projects and services, she retired in 2005. Among her greatest career accomplishments was the founding of the first Summer Head Start Program in Sumter County, South Carolina, in 1965 and the conversion of the early childhood education program for low- or moderate- income families into a year-round program for preschoolers in both Sumter city and county. Head Start services, under her leadership, grew to serve increasing numbers of children and families within the WCAI four-county service area. In 1988 the Governor asked her to provide emergency services to residents of Richland County. This expansion increased the agency’s service area to five counties. Her other accomplishments included the ground-up construction of two additional Head Start facilities; one of which is named in her honor “The Rubye J. Johnson Head Start Center” in Sumter, SC. Dr. Johnson also designed and operated the first rural transit system in South Carolina, “Operation Bus Stop”, which gave rise to the present-day Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority. Dr. Johnson co-founded and served as Administrator-Trustee of the South Carolina Employee Health and Welfare Insurance Company. She also co-founded the Sumter Phillip Rembert Tuskegee Airman, Inc. and served as its first Vice-President. Dr. Johnson was instrumental in the development and launching of several programs, initiatives, organizations and services that,today, continue to improve the quality of life for the citizenry of our community locally, statewide and nationally. Dr. Johnson, from 1953 to 1967, taught English in the public schools of Lancaster, Clarendon, and Sumter counties of South Carolina, and was, for a time, President of the South Carolina Classroom Teachers’ Association. She changed careers in 1967, to join the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act “War on Poverty” movement as the Assistant Director of the Sumter County Economic Opportunity Corporation, Inc., which was later renamed to Wateree Community Actions, Inc. Dr. Johnson’s memberships and affiliations included the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the NAACP, the Federation of Negro Women, the Benedict College Alumni Association, the Columbia University Teachers College Alumni Association, the South Carolina Community Actions Agency Program Directors’ Association, the South Carolina Association of Human Service Agencies, Inc., the South Carolina Association of Community Action Partnerships, Inc., the National Democratic Committee, and the South Carolina State Head Start Association. Dr. Johnson was initiated into the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Psi chapter in 1950 as an undergraduate at Benedict College. She has earned the distinction of being a “Diamond” member of the Sorority which signifies 75 years of membership this year (2025). She also served as a past president of the Sumter chapter Eta Zeta Omega. Dr. Johnson is preceded in death by her parents (Pearlie and Willie), two sisters Hattie McIllwain (Lancaster, SC) and Mary Johnson (Bronx, NY); two nephews William “Billy” McIllwain (Capitol Heights, MD) and Raymond McMurray (Old Saybrook, CT); her maternal grandmother Mary Duren (Lancaster, SC); her aunts Hattie Whitehead (Key West, FL) and Bessie Smith (Lancaster, SC); and of Washington DC, first cousin-in-law Maggie Lee Johnson, first cousin Teddie Lee Johnson, second cousin Patricia Russell, and third cousin Angela Russell; of Bronx, NY, niece Jacqueline Anita Johnson and great niece Wakiki Quintyne. Dr. Johnson leaves to cherish two sons, Rev. Joseph B. Johnson Jr. (Columbia, SC) and Carnegie B. Johnson (Sumter, SC); three grandchildren of Columbia, SC–Joseph Benjamin Johnson, III, Joshua Isaiah Johnson, and Gabrielle Rubye Johnson; one great-granddaughter Milan Rose Gieger; her sister’s grandchildren of Bronx, NY–Theresa Quintyne and Irwin Quintyne; her sister’s great-grandchildren of Bronx, NY–Watalasia Quintyne and Aarion Quintyne; her nephew’s widow Ophelia Truesdale McIllwain, her great nieces and nephews–Ingrid Crump (Troy), Cassandra McIllwain (Charlotte, NC), Attorney Raymond H. McIllwain (April); beloved cousins Gwendolyn Scott (Walter) and DeVona McFarlane (Juno) an host of other extended family in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins and loved ones. In lieu of flowers or memorials in memory of Dr. Rubye J. Johnson donations may be made to the following, Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church PO Box 1118 Sumter, SC 29051, or Ruby J. Johnson Head Start Center 1155 N Lafayette Dr, Sumter, SC 29150.

Dr. Rubye J. Johnson

December 25, 1930 - January 30, 2025