Life Sketch

Margaret Antoinette Booker Johnson Duncan or “Mother Duncan,” as she was so affectionately known by her family, was born on October 7, 1912, to William and Bessie Booker in Washington, DC. In that same year the Titanic sank, the US population was 96 million, cars were started by hand crank, William Howard Taft was President, and the shopping bag and Lifesavers candy were invented. She witnessed18 US Presidencies, seven US wars, the invention of television, the ball point pen, computers, the Internet, the landing of men on the moon and the robotic exploration of Mars.

Mother Duncan lived a rich life. She was an excellent student, graduating in1928 from Dunbar High School (Washington, DC) in only three years. At age 16 she journeyed to Berrien Springs, Michigan, to attend Emmanuel Missionary College (presently known as Andrews University). There she majored in English Literature and History; completing her degree in 1933.  Prior to graduation she met Louis Eugene Johnson, a premed student majoring in Chemistry. They married in1935.  In1958 she earned a Masters in Library Science from Columbia University in New York.

She loved being around people and thoroughly enjoyed engaging in thoughtful discussions. Her delights included cooking, gardening (most favored activity), book cataloging, reading books, working crossword puzzles, and collecting poetry.  She had a great sense of humor.  At age 95, she quit driving and said, “I’ve never had an accident, but I don’t know how many I’ve caused.”

Her career included librarian and high school and college teaching.  She taught Biology, Science, History, English, Spanish and Library Science.  Immediately after obtaining her BA, she taught in Chicago at Shilo SDA church school for three years. In 1935, immediately after marrying, she and Louis Johnson joined the faculty at Oakwood College (now known as Oakwood University) where they taught for nine years.  There, Louis established a BS program in Chemistry and Margaret taught Science, Biology, History, English, and English Literature. While at Oakwood, their daughter Helen and son William were born.  Unfortunately, Louis and Margaret separated in 1944 and Margaret with her two children moved to Washington, DC, where they lived for the next six years.

In 1950 Margaret accepted a teaching position at Pine Forge Institute, a recently established high school for ‘colored’ students, in Pine Forge, Pennsylvania, presently known as Pine Forge Academy (PFA).  There she taught Biology, English, History, and Spanish.  After being self-taught in Spanish, she obtained fluency and certification by spending two summers in Mexico.  She established the school’s library, and year after year it was recognized by various accrediting agencies as one of the finest secondary school libraries in the denomination. In addition to teaching and librarian duties she served as PFA's Vice Principal and Interim Principal.  Currently, PFA is building a new library, which will be named in her honor.  It was during her Pine Forge years that she met and married her second husband, Titus C. Duncan.

In 1965, after spending 15 years at Pine Forge, she and Titus moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where she spent the next 12 years at Columbia Union College (CUC), now known as Washington Adventist University, as Associate Librarian/Assistant Professor of Library Science. Upon retiring from CUC in 1977 and without any compensation, Margaret returned to Pine Forge Academy to give five more years of service to the school she loved.  In 1987 she moved to Scottsdale Arizona with her son and daughter-in-law, where she lived the remainder of her life. In 1991, at the age of 79, she became the librarian for the Department of Anesthesiology Integrated Residency Program in Phoenix, Arizona.  She drove herself 22 miles to work each day for five years and in 1996 she finally retired.  

She would spend the last 16 years of her life living at home with her son and daughter-in-law and attending to her garden and extensive 2000 book home library (built on the Dewey Decimal Classification).  She loved her God and family.  She was the center of her family and her absence has created a great sense of loss.  She was fortunate to live over 100 years in good health and her family was so very fortunate to be blessed by her wit, intelligence, spirituality, kindness, humor, creativity, and love; and to experience her love of poetry, literature, cooking, living green things and passion for her chosen profession.  We cherish the blessed hope of seeing her again.

Mother Duncan was preceded in death by her two husbands, Louis Eugene Johnson and Titus Conrad Duncan; and by her sister, Hylda Miller, brother, Ishmael Booker, and her daughter, Helen Elizabeth Alake Ford.  She is survived by her son William Thurston Johnson and daughter-in-law Leanor Boulin Johnson, her grandchildren Linton, Donovan and Mark Johnson, Michele and Michael Coley, great grandchildren Asia Mims-Johnson and Eden Johnson, Xavier Salizar and Devon Coley, and a host of extended family members.

In rare moments of melancholy, after reflecting on her long blessed life and the many friends and relatives who had come and gone, she would say, “I feel like the last leaf on a tree.”  That tree now stands barren awaiting the Spring of resurrection and the renewal of all life.

I love you Mom,

       Billy

William Johnson, MD