Barbara Cook Johnson

Barbara Cook Johnson was born to George Walden and Janey (Walker) Vanasdal on Feb. 6, 1930 in Indianapolis, IN. In 1941 her family moved to Anderson, IN and after graduating from high school there, she lived in several other cities in IN, including Richmond, Brownsburg, and Muncie, before moving to Mt. Vernon, IL and then to Ocean Springs, MS in 1967. Moving to Ocean Springs was a calculated move to the south that Barbara never regretted. Her family in Indiana expected her to move back there after her husband Norman Cook passed away at age 40, in 1972. Mississippi and Ocean Springs had become her home and she never considered moving back to the Midwest. Barbara considered herself a jack of all trades, master of none, and had a varied educational, work and activities history that she valued a great deal and enjoyed thoroughly. Her favorite recreational activity was ballroom dancing, but her activities included bridge, golf, PTA, sponsoring and chaperoning school dances, oil and water color painting, dancing, writing and publishing church bulletins, writing articles for newspapers, and many years of gathering family history. She became a computer addict in the late 1980s and made many friends and found several distant relatives through her computer that she was able to travel and meet as she researched her family history. Barbara ended her working years as a partner with her dear friend Judy Grisham in “The Shell Shack”, located in the “Tunnel” under the Factory Restaurant in Biloxi where the Golden Nugget is now located. Through the years she had worked at the General Motors Personnel Department in Anderson, IN, bookkeeping for Ralston Purina and Alcoa in Muncie, IN, Crestlawn Cemetery in Ocean Springs, statistical clerk for Singing River Mental Health in Pascagoula MS, and tax preparer for Econotax in Ocean Springs. She enjoyed memberships and served as an officer in several organizations including PTA activities in IN, IL, and MS, a very early member of the O.S. Art Association, Officer in Hickory Hills Ladies Golf Association, librarian for the O.S. Genealogical Society, helped form a ballroom dance club in Muncie, IN, North Bay Computer Club Secretary, Grace Episcopal Church, Muncie, IN, Trinity Episcopal Church, Mt. Vernon, IL, and associated with St. John’s Episcopal Church in O.S., MS, and an Officer for Elks Country Club Ladies Golf Association Mt. Vernon, IL. She was predeceased by her parents; her husbands Elmer Lee Johnson, her favorite dance partner, and Norman S. Cook, who brought her to MS; her step-son Jackie Johnson; and her sister-in-law Judy Vanasdal. Survivors include sister, Donna Wallace (Don); brother, Jim Vanasdal; sons, Terry Cook and Chris Cook (Donna); daughter, Vana Cook Perry (Bob); step-son, Dan Johnson (Marga); step - daughter Susan Johnson-Dias; grandchildren, James Cook, Kathryn Cook, Kelly Applewhite LeBlanc (Cliff), Michael Payne, Scott Payne, Sarah Young (Chris), Brian Johnson, Molly Jewel; great-grandchildren Garrett Ward, Courtney Ratliff and Haylie Rae Payne; and dear friends Ella Maisch, Judy Grisham and Rob Wroblewski. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of choice. Private services will be held at a later date at the Biloxi VA Cemetery. The Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.