DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010179

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   34 lines

LEAH I. JOHNSON

Mrs. Leah Irby Johnson, 80, of the 2000 block of Sprucewood Lane, died June 29, 1997, in Obici Hospital, Suffolk.

She was a native of Suffolk and the daughter of the late George Will Irby and Annie Jefferies Irby. She was the wife of the late Bishop Maurice Johnson Sr. She retired as a nurse's assistant. She was a member of the Bethany Cathedral United Jurisdiction COGIC Inc. She was the state supervisor of United COGIC Inc.

Survivors include six sons, Bishop Maurice L. Johnson Jr. of Suffolk, Leland P. Johnson of Portsmouth, Alton Johnson of Suffolk, Lewis Johnson of Freehold, N.J., Marlon Johnson, Byron Johnson, both of Portsmouth; a foster son, Daniel Watford of Columbia, S.C.; five daughters, Marion Porter of Portsmouth, Annie D. Block, both of Portsmouth, M. Celestine Young of Richmond, Gloria Newton of Suffolk, Debra Spruill of Chesapeake; foster daughter, Evelyn Armstrong of Suffolk; goddaughter, Barbara Faulk of Chesapeake; 62 grandchildren; 49 great-grandchildren; 10 great-great-grandchildren; sister, Vera Irby Moore of Chesapeake; brothers-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Moore of Chesapeake, Herbert White of Portsmouth; sisters-in-law, Alma White of Portsmouth, Addie Field of White Plains, N.Y., and Bessie Barnes of Brooklyn, N.Y.

A funeral will be conducted at 1 p.m. Thursday in Tabernacle Christian United Church of Christ, Suffolk, by Bishop Maurice Johnson Jr. and District Superintendent Samuel Moore. Burial will be in Carver Memorial Cemetery, Suffolk. A memorial service will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Bethany Cathedral C.O.G.I.C., 142 Tynes St., Suffolk, Va. The body will be placed in church at noon Thursday. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

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