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TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR MRS. LENORA JOHNSON WASHINGTON OF COLLETON COUNTY, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY, AND TO WISH HER MUCH HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina Senate are pleased to learn that Mrs. Lenora Johnson Washington reached the momentous marker of one hundred years on December 19, 2009; and
Whereas, born on Edisto in 1909 the fifth of seven children to James and Emily Moore Johnson, Lenora Johnson had the responsibility of doing all the outside work after her oldest brothers moved to Charleston; her work included plowing and planting the fields, harvesting the vegetables, caring for livestock, and operating the family-owned corn mill; and
Whereas, she attended Sea Side School which taught children through the seventh grade, but her teachers guided this keen student through the eighth grade studies before she returned home to devote her attention to the farm; and
Whereas, a lifetime member of Edisto Presbyterian Church, she met her beloved George Washington through the church, and they were married and moved into his family's home where she helped to raise his younger siblings; and
Whereas, when George died, he left Lenora to rear the younger of their own seven children alone. She also has reared several of their thirty grandchildren and even some of their fifty-five great-grandchildren. Lenora also has twenty-seven great-great-grandchildren; and
Whereas, before her husband's death, they had bought a piece of property which they trusted God to enable them to pay for over a period of time, and in 1969, she was able to complete building on the present family home; and
Whereas, she worked on several farms including the Lamunion Brothers' Farm in 1960 until she became only the second woman to serve as a foreman there, and she continued working there as a foreman and as a sharecropper to pay for her home; and
Whereas, Lenora attended the mid-wife training school in Adams Run offered by Claflin College and completed the training in Orangeburg, which amply prepared her to deliver over four hundred fifty babies on Edisto Island area; and
Whereas, a role model in her community, she has served in parent-teacher organizations, as a member of the Eastern Star, and is still active in the Senior Citizens Program; and
Whereas, she served her church as an ordained elder, a church school teacher, a choir member, and in the women's organizations, and she continued to walk the one mile to church every Sunday as she had in her youth until 2002 when the walk became too difficult for her; and
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina Senate are grateful that Mrs. Lenora Johnson Washington has reached the milestone of her one hundredth birthday and thank her for making life richer for those whose lives she has touched. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate:
That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, recognize and honor Mrs. Lenora Johnson Washington of Colleton County, upon the occasion of her centennial birthday, and wish her much health and happiness.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to Mrs. Lenora Johnson Washington.
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