Easter Hatfield Johnson

Easter Hatfield Johnson, 68, of Casa Grande died Sept. 10, 2010 at John C. Lincoln Hospital.
Visitation will be from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ Assembly of God in Casa Grande. The funeral service will begin at 10 a.m. with Pastor Garvin Jones officiating. Burial will be in Mountain View Cemetery.
Mrs. Johnson was born June 20, 1942 in O’Keefe, W. Va., to Rosa Vance and George Washington Hatfield. She worked as a clerk at the TA Truck Stop.
Friends say Mrs. Johnson felt her calling was to make a difference in people’s lives. She and her husband, a police officer, became foster parents in the 1970s, eventually hosting more than 150 foster children. She helped raise her niece and went on to adopt five more children after she became a widow. Mrs. Johnson was a longtime gospel singer and loved fresh flowers, decorating and cooking. One of the greatest joys in her life was God’s little creatures like doves, quail, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, roadrunners, coyotes, kittens and puppies. She called her beloved Chihuahuas “my babies” and looked after them as if they were children. Friends said she was all about sharing life with a great a compassion for others, especially those less fortunate. She was “a classy lady who did not just go the extra mile, she went much further and opened her whole heart and life in pure love.”
She is survived by her companion Justin Rivers and five adopted children, two brothers, Haven Hatfield of Carlsbad, N.M., and John Hatfield of Meador, W.Va.; two sisters, Marylee Hickox of Waycross Georgia and Rhodina Pack of Meador. She was preceded in death by her husband of 23 years, Early C. Johnson; her parents; two sisters, Genevieve Hatfield and Eleanor Dudley; and three brothers, Elias, Grover and Oval Hatfield.
J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud Gardens Chapel is handling the arrangements.