The 12-year-old daughter of a woman who died while crossing state Route 8 last week told a crowd of hundreds on Monday that she would remember her mother as a kind, gentle woman.
“My mother was beautiful inside and out. She was always, always helping someone out either at home, at work or just running around,” Temaria Johnson told those who attended her mother’s funeral. “She was so caring and loving, it was unreal. Everyone loved her — I mean, how could you not?”
Her mother, 43-year-old Canton firefighter and paramedic Tonya Johnson, died Feb. 22 on state Route 8. Police reported her husband of two weeks pulled over their vehicle while they were arguing during rush hour. She exited their vehicle, crossed southbound traffic and climbed over the cement divider into northbound lanes, where she was struck and killed by a pickup truck.
Johnson’s funeral on Monday attracted hundreds of family, friends, community members and firefighters to Canton’s First Christian Church, 6900 Market Ave. N.
Her daughter thanked the crowd for supporting her family and said she misses her mother.
“It breaks my heart to know that when I wake up in the morning, I won’t be able to see her beautiful face or hear her crazy, but lovely laugh,” Johnson’s daughter said. “I love you all the days of my life, Mommy. As you’d say to me, fly high.”
Johnson also was survived by two sons, Trevon Boone and Dejon Newell, and her mother, Debbie Massey.
Her service to Canton as a firefighter of 18 years granted her the largest gathering of colleagues in the city’s history, a fire official told the crowd. At least 150 active and retired firefighters paid their respects and participated in a “last alarm” memorial.
Akbar Bennett, a fire official who spoke at Johnson’s funeral, described her as a beautiful, competent woman.
“As a small, African-American female in a male-dominated society, she shined,” Bennett said. “She never asked for any favors, she never asked for any special treatment, and that’s what made her so beautiful.”
Other speakers described Johnson as a smiling, happy, determined, hard-working and intense woman who wouldn’t accept no for an answer. She enjoyed martial arts, her car, fashion and her family. Many said she was a God-fearing Christian who tried hard to accept others.
Her cousin, Gina Skinner, called Johnson a “soldier in heels.”
A longtime friend of Johnson said she exchanged text messages with her shortly before her passing. The last thing she said to Johnson was that she loved her.
“When you love someone, always let them know,” the woman told the crowd. “I didn’t know those would be my last words to her.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.