Elizabeth Friench Johnson

Johnson was born in Manassas, Virginia, the daughter of Joseph Benjamin Johnson and Fannie Simpson Johnson. She graduated from Goucher College in 1911,[1] and completed her doctoral studies in 1916 at Johns Hopkins University.[2][3] Her research involved German literature and philology; her dissertation title was Weckherlin's Eclogues of the Seasons (1922).[4][5][6] She was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.[7]

Johnson taught at Sweet Briar College from 1917 to 1921.[8][9] From 1922 to 1955, Johnson was head of the modern languages department at Winthrop College.[10][11] She hosted meetings of the school's German club in her home.[12][13] and chaired the board of advisors for the Rock Hill YWCA.[14] After she retired from Winthrop, she was a visiting professor of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.[7]

Johnson was president of the South Carolina chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW),[15][16] and of the American Association of French Teachers. From 1937 to 1940, she was poet laureate of the South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs.[7] She addressed the annual meeting of the South Carolina Teachers' Association in 1926.[17] She was active in the South Atlantic regional gatherings of the Modern Language Association.[18] She was a member of the South Carolina State Council on Teacher Education.[19] In 1955, she was a judge at a national French contest, held in Pennsylvania.[20]

Johnson was active in the Episcopal Church, and was a serious gardener. She was the 1956 South Carolina winner of the Houbigant Grand National Quelques Fleurs French Garden Merit Scroll, for her garden layout.[21]

Johnson died in 1979, aged 88 years, in Rock Hill, South Carolina.[22] In 1970, she donated her papers to the library at Winthrop University.[15] She also donated a collection of bulletins from the Carolina Bird Club, Inc.[23]