'Vi' Johnson led active Batavia life

Violet “Vi” Swanson Johnson was proud to be a nearly lifelong resident of Batavia.

Aside from the last two years, spent in an assisted living facility in St. Charles, and a stint in Florida in the 1940s, she hung her hat in Batavia.

Mrs. Johnson died Tuesday.

Mrs. Johnson was born in 1913 to Swedish immigrants Edward and Victoria, one of their 10 children. She graduated from Batavia High School in 1931 and went to work at Campana Co. cosmetics manufacturer at Batavia Avenue and Fabyan Parkway.

She married Maurice Johnson of Lily Lake in 1941; they had met where he worked, Maurie's Standard gasoline station. Mrs. Johnson followed him to Colorado, Georgia and Florida while he trained for military service during World War II.

After the war, they built a house on South Harrison Street and lived there the rest of there 57-year marriage, until Maurice died in 1998.

Mrs. Johnson worked for 27 years for Swanson's Hardware, which was owned by her brother, Arthur.

“In the old days, you knew everybody in town. If you saw a stranger you would go out of your way to say hello and introduce yourself. Now it seems as though no one knows anyone. It's a much different world,” she said in a 1999 interview, when Swanson's closed. “I remember the tremendous layaway business we did,” she said. “Many people couldn't afford to buy toys for Christmas, so they would pick them out, pay a little each month until they were paid for. Art stored a lot of toys just for that purpose.”

Even after her retirement, she liked to get together with the “Swanson Girls” for lunch.

The Johnsons were also active in the Batavia Overseas Post 1197, Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Memorial Day rites conducted by the post were especially meaningful to Mrs. Johnson, whose brother Kenneth was killed in World War II. “I was working in a hat shop in Florida when the owner of the shop came and told me about my brother,” she said in a 2005 interview. Kenny Swanson, a bombardier, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. “I went to Washington and met my mother and father, my brother, Art, my sister, Audrey, and her husband, Dick,” Johnson said. “It was a very impressive service at Arlington Cemetery.” Every year at the VFW service, when people were asked to bring forward names of those who have died in a war, Mrs. Johnson spoke of her brother.

“He gave his life for his country,” she said. “That should be remembered.” Mrs. Johnson is survived by her daughter, Cynthia Trenka; a granddaughter; three great-grandchildren; and her sister, Audrey Miller.

Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Moss Family Funeral Home, 209 S. Batavia Ave. (Route 31), Batavia. The funeral is at 11 a.m. Saturday at Bethany Lutheran Church, 8 S. Lincoln St., Batavia.

Memorial gifts can be directed to the Bethany Lutheran Church Senior Fund or The Batavia Depot Museum, 155 Houston St., Batavia, 60510.