GOLDEN VALLEY, MN (December 17, 2015) — Marian Johnson, retired missionary to Congo and Central Africa Republic, died Monday, December 14. She was 88.

Marian was born on August 20, 1927, in Milton, Massachusetts. She attended North Park College in 1947 and earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Central Connecticut State College.

She served in Congo from 1966 to 1993, and then returned several times to Central Africa Republic between 1994 and 2000.

Marian began her service in Congo with the American School of Kinshasa, a mission school. She applied for the position when she saw a brief notice in the Covenant Companion that advertised the need for educators. She later said, “(It was) quite a struggle accepting this as God’s will for me.”

After her two-year term was completed, she worked for two years as a short-term Covenant missionary from 1968 to 1970 and helped with youth programs. She was approved to be a Covenant missionary in 1971.

While in Africa, she helped missionary Ann Berg set up a bookstore at Gbado and eventually directed all of the store’s operations. She also helped teach women on leading youth programs.

Marian ended her service in Congo in 1993 and returned to the United States, saying she “took off my missionary hat.” She traveled to Alaska to visit a friend for a month, and on her way back to Washington where she lived while not in Congo, she was asked to teach missionary children in the Central Africa Republic. She returned there several times to help missionary work until 2000.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, December 21, in Milton, Massachusetts. A celebration of life service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 2016, at Redeemer Covenant Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.