Honolulu resident Hertha "Bobbe" Johnson, a former reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, died Tuesday at Arcadia Retirement Residence. She was 86. Former reporter
‘loved by everybody’HERTHA 'BOBBE' JOHNSON / 1915-2001
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By Kelliann Shimote
kshimote@starbulletin.com"She was pretty much loved by everybody," said her son, Bill McKinney. "Anybody who met my mother would just be drawn to her effervescent personality. ... She would do just about anything for you."
Johnson was born on July 20, 1915, in Barstow, Calif. She later moved to Oahu after studying for two years at the University of California at Berkeley.
While in Hawaii she learned to fly single-engine airplanes and was a reporter for the Star-Bulletin, McKinney said.
She married William R. McKinney of the U.S. Naval Academy on April 11, 1941. The couple moved to Navy bases around the Pacific and traveled to various states during World War II.
They returned to Hawaii in September 1966. After her husband died in 1980, Johnson married her longtime friend Rear Adm. Henry Johnson on March 31, 1982.
Starting in 1978 and continuing through her remaining years in Hawaii, Johnson volunteered for the nonprofit Assistance League of Hawaii. She worked at the league's thrift shop and also tutored first- and second-graders at Lincoln Elementary School.
"She was a beautiful lady inside and out," said Lindsay Issell, Johnson's friend for 13 years. "She was one of the most caring and loving people in the world. She was always smiling. ... Everyone loved her.
"She was also so happy and so fun to be with. I will miss her very, very much. We were very close friends."
She is survived by husband Henry Johnson, son Bill McKinney Jr., daughter Bette McKinney, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 17 at Arcadia Retirement Residence, 1434 Punahou St. A 3 p.m. inurnment will follow at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific-Punchbowl. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the National Heart Association.