Lena Elvira Omotinuke Johnson

The LATE LENA ELVIRA OMOTINUKE JOHNSON was the first daughter born to Mr. Alexander Manfred Adjai Fergusson and Mrs. Christiana Ethel Sarah Fergusson (Nee Brown) on September 11 1923.   Her name Omotinuke, commonly referred to as Tinuke, means  “a child petted from the womb”. She had an elder brother, Ifalui, with whom she developed a very close relationship. She later had four siblings namely: Omotayo, Omoyeni, Clarice (Omolara), and her youngest brother Kenneth. She had a dedicated career as a teacher, specializing in English and Music and served as Head Teacher at both the Tabernacle and Cathedral schools in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She was a Girls Guide and rose to become a Ranger during which period, she displayed distinctive character traits of openness, friendliness, and love for outdoor life. She was a disciplinarian who was frank, honest, and candid with everyone she interacted with. She had a love for music and a passion for dancing. She was also an accomplished seamstress for which she obtained a diploma in dress making and design in New York City. She took pride in not only creating her own outfits, but those of a number of her friends and family including their bridal gowns. She was married to Mr. Peter Wilfred Johnson, whom she fondly called “PJ” and their marriage was blessed with three children namely: Richard (Dicky), Derek (Kenneth), and Dorothy. Richard is married to Edith Parker and their union is blessed with a son and a daughter, and Dorothy is married to Ricky Morrison and that union is blessed with two sons. Her late husband (PJ), who pre-deceased her, had a distinguished career at the Sierra Leone Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance, and later the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was assigned and accompanied by his family, to the Sierra Leone Permanent Mission at the United Nations (UN) in New York City as the Financial Attaché, overseeing financial matters of the Mission and Embassy in Washington, DC. While a member of the diplomatic corps, alongside her husband in New York, she took great pride and joy in coordinating diplomatic functions and hosting numerous social gatherings. She always knew how to make an entrance and she inspired the room with her warm and upbeat aura. Following the passing of her husband, she relocated to the United States where she spent the rest of her life, with occasional travels to the United Kingdom and Africa to visit family. She is survived by her younger brother Kenneth Fergusson and wife Antoinette, her son Richard and wife Edith, her son Derek, her daughter Dorothy and husband Ricky, her grandchildren Richard, Akin, Deji, and Melissa. Other members of her family in the U.S. and abroad include: the Fergusson family, Johnson Family, Brown Family, Forde family, Mends family, Sackey family, Metzger family, Harding family, Lewis family, Taylor-Lewis family, Nicol family, Thorpe family, Pearce family, Parker family of Liberia and the Morrison family of Kentucky.