Florence Therese Johnson

Florence Therese Johnson, age 93, of Sylvania, passed away on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at the Flower Hospital. She was born November 7, 1917 in Toledo to the late William and Agnes Pawlaczyk Scholtz. With her love of driving, Florence first became a teamster and drove big box trucks for a company. She then became a bus operator for the Community Traction Company currently known as TARTA in the very early years of WWII. When hired, she was told you will be the pride of the company and so she was. She was an excellent driver with a great safety record. Many honors were heaped on her, numerous stories about her appeared in The Blade, and she made several appearances on television, including The Lions Tale and the Ginny Wood Show, an interview production. One day as she was checking out with her fare box and equipment, the superintendent came out of his office and asked her, Florence, do you remember a gentleman riding with you a few days ago and asking you a lot of questions? Well, he was the head of transportation for all of Canada. They have lost a lot of drivers in the war effort. He had heard that we were one of the first to hire women bus drivers and flew in to see for himself. After that round trip on the Old Orchard route in your bus, he was so impressed by your expertise that he returned to my office and said, Im flying back tomorrow and the first thing Im going to do is give the order to start hiring women. One day as she was checking out on the way to her bus, a representative from Greyhound Bus Lines approached her and asked if she would deliver their buses to the federal government for transporting troops. She declined; she liked the job she already had. One of her fellow drivers said, Florence, youve got diesel oil in your veins. Florence was an animal lover; she had her first puppy before she entered kindergarten. But snakes? She hated snakes. Her dogs always alerted her when a snake sneaked near the house and out shed go out and catch it. Because the zoo had lost some of their snakes they, asked her to bring any snakes she caught to the zoo. Problem solved. Florence was a devoted wife and caring mother who deeply loved her family. She was a member of St. Josephs Catholic Church in Sylvania. Florence is survived by her daughter, Andrea Johnson; sister, Celia Rucki; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Emmett Willard Johnson; sisters, Helen Dobrasz, Wanda Chlebowski, and Josephine Niezgoda; and brothers, Phil, Ollie and Joseph Guziolek. Visitation will be Wednesday from 3 to 8 pm with a Rosary recited at 7 pm at the Walker Funeral Home, 5155 W. Sylvania Ave. west of Corey Rd.. Funeral services begin on Thursday at the funeral home with prayers at 9:30 am followed by Mass of Christian Burial at St. Josephs Catholic Church, 5373 S. Main St., Sylvania. Interment at Toledo Memorial Park Online condolences may be shared with the family at walkerfuneralhomes.com.