Sr. Barbara Johns, IHM, 70, died May 14 at the IHM Health Care Center.
Sr. Johns was born Oct. 26, 1944, one of three children of Ernest and Catherine (Cunningham) Johns of Barberton, Ohio. She entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe in 1966.
Sr. Johns earned degrees from Marygrove College and the University of Maryland. After serving at Lorain Catholic High School in Ohio, she returned to Michigan in 1975 to pursue a doctorate at the University of Detroit. During this time, she worked as a graduate assistant, senior teaching fellow and as an instructor at Marygrove College.
She continued teaching English at Marygrove College for more than 20 years. Sr. Johns also served as grants and research coordinator and as special assistant to the president for almost 10 years. She was a frequent contributor to the Colby College Library Quarterly, editor of “Spinnaker” (IHM community newsletter) and “MarygroveContact,” founder of the Contemporary American Author Lecture Series (Marygrove College) and numerous other projects.
In 2002, Sr. Johns was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or Charcot disease.
Sr. Johns is survived by her sisters in community; and her brothers, Karl of Sanibel Island, Fla., and Paul of Hudson, Ohio; a niece and three nephews; and several grandnieces and -nephews.
A memorial Mass was celebrated May 17 in the Motherhouse Chapel. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery.