Funeral services for Ellen Ann Condon Johnson will be celebrated at St. James Catholic Church on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 11 A.M., with visitation preceding the mass from 10-11 A.M. Burial will follow at Leland-Stoneville Cemetery under the direction of Boone Funeral Home in Leland. Ellen Ann passed away on March 8 at Indywood Estates in Cleveland. On Monday, March 17, visitation will be from 5-7 P.M. prior to the rosary service at 7 P.M.
Born in Leland on August 13, 1928, Ellen Ann was the daughter of William James Condon, Sr., and Atna Abdo Condon. An intelligent, inquisitive, and musically gifted child, Ellen Ann graduated with honors as class salutatorian from Leland High School and attended Mississippi State College for Women for two years before transferring to the University of Mississippi, from which she earned a degree in English with minors in history and French. After graduation Ellen Ann taught the fifth grade at Dean Elementary School in Leland.
Following a fortuitous introduction by her brother to one of his Ole Miss tennis teammates, she married Rufus Clinton Johnson, Jr., of Meridian on June 10, 1953. After he completed his military service in the United States Navy and returned to Ole Miss for a degree in pharmacy, the young couple moved to Leland in 1958 and joined her parents at Peoples Drug Store.
Ellen Ann lived a life devoted to the joyful service of others , and was an enthusiastic, tenacious, and hard-working community volunteer. She was a Life Member of Junior Auxiliary, serving as chapter president in Leland and Recording Secretary of the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries. Ellen Ann served as the longtime Galleria chairman and assisted at the NAJA Annual Education Conference, attending over fifty conventions.She was named the Leland Charity Ball Queen in 1989, awarded the NAJA Betty Robbins Volunteer of the Year in 1999, and was a proud member of the Cornerstone Society.
Always active in her church, Ellen Ann worked in a variety of capacities for St. James Catholic Church, playing the piano and organ for many years, singing in the choir, serving many terms on the Parish Council and as President of the Ladies Altar Society, as well as chairing the renowned spaghetti supper fundraiser numerous times. She baked dozens of her famous pound cakes annually for the Fall Bazaar.
The Leland-Deer Creek Garden Club was another organization close to Ellen Ann’s heart, as she served multitudinous terms as president and treasurer and was a lifetime trustee for the historic Garden Club House. She was also a trustee for the Leland-Stoneville Cemetery Association, a longtime board member of the Leland Food Pantry, and a member of The King’s Daughters and Sons Circle Number Two Foundation. For her service to the City of Leland, Ellen Ann was presented the key to the city in 2007.
Ellen Ann and Clint devoted their lives to meeting the healthcare needs of their fellow citizens in Leland, working together at Peoples Drug Store for over forty years. They endowed the Johnson-Condon Family Scholarship and the Johnson-Abdo Family Scholarship at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, as well as providing a functional and well-appointed eponymous student lounge in Faser Hall for the pharmacy students to enjoy. Ellen Ann was a passionate supporter of the pharmacy profession, attending over sixty Mississippi Pharmacist Association conventions with Clint and other family members.
After Ellen Ann and Clint sold Peoples Drug Store in 1997, they established The Clint and Ellen Ann Johnson Foundation with the proceeds, in order that the beloved business so loyally supported by the community could continue to serve the Delta and the many causes the couple espoused.
An avid and talented cook, Ellen Ann enjoyed entertaining, and every holiday meal included several dozen family members, friends, and acquaintances who didn’t have family with whom to celebrate. Many of her iconic recipes were perfected and served to one of her bridge clubs before they officially entered her repertoire. Ellen Ann was well-known for her cake ministry, and countless families were comforted in their times of sorrow by her generosity and singular baking talent.
Known far and wide to people of all ages simply as “Gaga,” Ellen Ann had many friends because she loved deeply and unconditionally, kept confidences without fail, and was an ever-present and unwavering pillar of support for those she loved. Ellen Ann loved to drink coffee, wear high heels and lipstick, and dance with Clint. She had a well-disguised wicked and playful sense of humor, and she and her friends loved laughing together.
Ellen Ann’s greatest love was her family, especially Clint, her husband of sixty-one years. She is survived by her son William Condon Johnson (Cindy) and her daughter Wilma Johnson Wilbanks (Bob), as well as 5 grandchildren, Elizabeth Johnson Randall (Trace), Benjamin Condon Johnson (Nancy), Dr. Reed Condon Gilbow (Anastasia), Robert Rushing Wilbanks (Ashley), and Forrest Spencer Wilbanks (Victoria), thirteen great-grandchildren, a niece, 3 nephews, numerous great-nieces and grand-nephews, cousins, and a host of many loyal and cherished friends.
Ellen Ann was preceded in death by her beloved Clint, 3 infant children, her parents, her brother, her much-loved sister, her parents-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.
The family expresses their heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Steven Clark, Dr. Charles Brock, the competent and caring staffs of Bolivar Medical Center and Indywood Estates, and the compassionate caregivers at Heart of Hospice.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. James Catholic Church, P.O. Box 352, Leland, MS 38756, The Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 422, Leland, MS 38756, and The NAJA Foundation, P.O. Box 1873, Greenville, MS 38702, or the charity of your choice. Ellen Ann’s legacy of love and service will live on through the generosity of her family and friends.