Born in the small Alabama town of Evergreen, Viola was the third daughter in a family of five. As the middle child, she was a reticent, hardworking loner who often spent quiet summers in the snaky waters of a nearby creek. At the age of ten, her father gave her a personal garden plot where she grew vegetables and flowers.

From this humble beginning, her love for nature was established, and often these elements served as her “students” in an imaginary classroom. Voila attended Booker T. Washington School, a former army barracks which housed both the elementary and high school for Blacks in the town of Brewton. There she became Viola and went on to earn a scholarship to Alabama State University, where she matriculated in English and Art, in homage to her high school teacher and neighbor, Johnny Davis.

Graduating in 1972, Viola received a Bachelor of Science degree in English, fulfilling her dying father’s last request.

In the summer of 1972, Viola came to Boston for a vacation and, as she said, “I have been vacationing here ever since.” Working as a clerk in South Boston occupied the next two years of her life before Viola began her career as an English teacher in the Boston Public Schools.

Always a learner, Viola spent her summers doing course work at some of the major universities in the Boston area, earning master’s degrees at both UMass/Boston and Simmons College and completing course work for degree programs at Boston State College and BU.

It is from her 1979 marriage to Earl Edward Johnson that her only child and “greatest contribution to the world,” Nathan Philip Johnson, was born in 1988. A theater major at the University of Hartford, Nathan was raised with a love for Jehovah, a respect and goodwill toward all people, and a willingness to work hard.

From the age of five, Viola’s family began studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Because of her desire to please Jehovah, Viola was baptized in 1974. Although inactive for a long time, she returned to Jehovah, God of comfort. She then worked the rest of her life in mastery of what Jehovah required in dedication to her parents.

Viola leaves her son, Nathan Philip Johnson; her sister Betsy Dorvilmar (Christopher, Bramson and Jacqueline) of Boston; brothers Hubert Tolbert Jr. (Ruby, Elaine, Tally and Tristan) and Hillary Tolbert (Mary, Teresa and Geraldine) of Montgomery, Alabama; aunts Nettie B. Nolan of Brewton and Cora L. Stallworth of Evergreen; uncle John Nolan (Arlene) of California; and a host of relatives and friends.