Eleanor Lincoln Johnson

Eleanor Lincoln Johnson, aged 99, passed away peacefully on October 8, 2010 at Bickford of Overland Park, Kansas. She was a long time Fayetteville resident active in both the town and university circles. She was born in Shanghai, China in 1911 to Charles Fessenden Lincoln, a medical missionary, and Williette Eastham Lincoln. She lived a youth that was full of travel and adventure; seeing and participating in many of the 20th Century's most revolutionary moments. She danced on broadway, sculpted at the 1939 World's Fair and was affiliated with Greenwich House in NYC. She was working in Europe up until the outbreak of World War II. During the war she was an aid in a Staten Island military hospital and throughout the war she served in other volunteer positions. Eleanor moved to Fayetteville after World War II when her husband, George Thomas Johnson, returned to teach botany and bacteriology in his home state at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Eleanor was a generous donor to many, including Fayetteville High School, and The University of Arkansas. She was especially fond of the university marching band, track and field events, women's athletics, and the men's baseball team. Eleanor actively supported her community for over 50 years. She was a den mother to her special Boy Scout troop for many years. Chief among her accomplishments are starting the local animal shelter, distributing food for commodity programs, helping start the local Boy's Club of America and Indian Trail House, helping develop the current Girl Scout camp in Northwest Arkansas. She supported the Meals-on-Wheels program, for which she was a delivery driver for 20 years. During the 60's, she taught classes on being inventive without having money at the Free University at the U of Arkansas. She was a professional sculptor in her early life and transitioned into knitting, fashion design, and loom weaving in her later artistic work. Along with Dorothy Nichols, she started an artists' co-op on Dickson street during the 70's. Eleanor is survived by her two children Dr. Charles Lincoln Johnson of South Bend, Indiana and Dr. Nancy Lee Richard of Overland Park, Kansas. She leaves behind nine grandchildren and several extended relatives who remember her as a small woman with a big heart. A memorial service for Eleanor is scheduled for Sunday November 7, 2010 at 1 p.m. at the Fayetteville Botanical Gardens, 4703 Crossover Road, Fayetteville, Ark. 72764. Share a memory, sign an online guestbook, or express your condolences at www.overlandparkchapel.com (Arr.: D.W. Newcomer's Sons Overland Park Chapel, 8201 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, Kan. 66204.)