Scharmel (Thoma) Johnson

Scharmel (Thoma) Johnson passed away 10th of April 2024 in Rose Hill, Kansas peacefully. Graveside Services will be held on Monday, April 15, 1pm, at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in Winfield.

Scharmel was born to Frank and Frances (Clark) Thoma on November 8, 1939, in Pampa, TX. Scharmel graduated from Adamson High School in Dallas Tx.

Scharmel met Jerry Wayne Johnson in the “Pink Apartments” in Dallas Texas where they both lived as children. Jerry joined the Air Force at 16 and when he completed his service returned to Dallas where he attempted to re-connect with Scharmel. When he called at her home, Scharmel’s parents said if he wanted to see her, he would need to go to the Galilean Baptist Church as she was usually there. Jerry and Scharmel were married on February 21, 1959 and she gave birth to a son, Matthew Gordon Johnson in Dallas, Texas in November of that same year on her 20th Birthday.

Scharmel, Jerry and Matt moved to Chattanooga, TN to attend Bible School at Tennessee Temple. While Jerry attended bible school, Scharmel worked at Western Union as a secretary where she learned to type 130 correct words per minute on a manual typewriter. She gave birth to a second son, Mitchell Wayne Johnson on March 30, 1964, the year Jerry graduated from Bible School. Although she only “birthed” 2 children in the United States, she became “Mamma J” to thousands of children throughout the Caribbean because of her Missionary service over 5 decades.

Scharmel and Jerry felt a calling to become missionaries and after Jerry completed bible college with only 20% of the funds required, they took a leap of faith and felt confident God would honor their faith and provide for their needs.  In July 1966, the family got on a plane and set off for the biggest adventure of their lives. Initially, the family settled in St. Thomas and Jerry taught at Blue Water Bible College, Through his work he came to know Freeman Googe who was a missionary on Anguilla. Scharmel, Jerry and their 2 boys moved to Anguilla and ministered there for 6 months where they were mentored by the Googe family. Jerry felt called to Trinidad and worked to gain entrance but could not get permission from the government to emigrate there. Meanwhile, unrest on Anguilla led the Governor to expel all Americans from the island to avoid a wider conflict. The Johnson family moved back to St. Thomas while trying to gain entrance to Trinidad. On the return flight from his last trip to Trinidad, Jerry’s plane had a layover in Antigua, an island he had never heard of. Jerry later said when he got off the plane in Antigua, he knew in his heart this was where God wanted him to minister. He returned to St. Thomas, packed up the family and moved to Antigua not knowing a single person on the island. Jerry and Scharmel fell in love with the island, the people and consider Antigua their true home.

Scharmel was born into a poor family and her dad was a disabled carpenter. One day at work, a hammer fell from a multistory roof and struck her dad in the head almost killing him. He suffered brain damage and was unable to work for the remainder of his life. Scharmel’s mother worked as a waitress and cashier at a hotel in Dallas where she divided tips to pay the bills and raised Scharmel and her younger sister and brother. As a result of her father’s injury, the State of Texas allowed Scharmel to obtain her driver’s license at the age of 11 so she could assist the family. They also allowed her to accelerate her education and graduate high school early so she begin working to support the family.

Scharmel’s energy, ingenuity and love of fun and adventure were evident from a young age. She loved fast cars and bad boys. Scharmel once said “If I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my savior, I would have ended up in prison.” As a young teenager, Scharmel loved Wrestling and would often watch the local wrestling matches which were broadcast on local TV. While I do not know her favorite wrestler, I do know the one she hated the most: Gorgeous George! She found out Gorgeous George was coming to Dallas and was determined to go the wrestling arena when he was in town. Only problem was her parents forbade her to go. No problem, Mom snuck out of her room and made her way to the show. When Gorgeous George defeated her favorite wrestler, Scharmel jumped into the ring and threw her autograph book at him. The book has brass metal corners and when it hit his face, the book corner cut him under the eye! Her mom and dad were watching the wrestling match on TV and when she jumped into the ring, her mother exclaimed: “Frank, isn’t that Scharmel?!” She was truly a spitfire!

Scharmel was later invited to Galilean Baptist Church where she was saved under the ministry of Bob Keyes. Her zest for fun, life and adventure were now directed to good works instead of mischievousness. When Scharmel gave her life to God, she gave her entire being to Him. All of energy was now focused on service to Jesus Christ.

Scharmel had an infectious laugh and if she were laughing you would end up laughing also. Scharmel could find the humor in every situation, and she used her laughter and passion to reach all people young and old while not only teaching the Word of God but demonstrating God’s love for all his children.

She loved the “unlovely”. She visited the Lepers Colony, she would go to the Fiene’s Institute and pick up babies who were deformed, some of whom had flies in their eyes because they could not close them and the windows had no screens. Mom would shoo away the flies, hold the babies and sing to them, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World”. She found Sherma and Tulip who were deaf and learned Sign Language so she could communicate with them and would sit with them and interpret songs and sermons.  Living in the Villa, she came to know Vance who was the son of a local shop owner. Vance was considered “fooly” and could only communicate by screaming and clapping his hands. Mom convinced his mother to let her bring him to Children’s Chapel. Every Sunday, Vance was so excited when Scharmel arrived to pick him up to bring him to Chapel. She treated him the same as all the other children and by doing so taught all of us that God’s love extends to everyone equally.

Scharmel has many great accomplishments alongside Paster Jerry Johnson as leaders of Galilean Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church, and Grace Christian Academy. Her lifelong passion was for young people. She was an amazing teacher of children and led many children to the Lord who are faithful servants of God today in their 50’s and 60’s.

Scharmel was not content with just leading children to Christ, she had the vision to understand that children grow into teenagers and then to adults and need a Christian infrastructure to develop Christian Families and Leaders. As a result, she started Teen Challenge, a weekly youth meeting in her home where she provided snacks, games, social interaction followed by instruction in Biblical principles. Christian friendships, accountability and a sense of community grew. Young people were mentored and challenged to grow spiritually. Scharmel created Teen Time, a monthly game night to provide good clean Christian entertainment for the young people. She intentionally played games that made young men and women interact like “Shooting” and “1A20”. These games allowed young men and women a way to interact and eventually date and fall in love. She knew Young People need leadership skills so she founded IBYC and was intent that it not be a conference put on by adults to entertain young people, but that it be “by young people, for young people”. She created a theme and workshop topics to support the theme. Workshops were 30 minute sessions and young people could volunteer or were assigned topics to present on. Scharmel would mentor and help but the young people did the work and the presentations. She added competitions in Music, Bible Knowledge, Poetry and many other categories. IBYC created a generation of leaders. The conference culminated in a Banquet on Friday night so love and relationships were the undercurrent of IBYC. Many marriages came out of IBYC as well as the next generation of Christian children, now with Christian parents who have a solid foundation in Christ thanks to the vision and hard work of Scharmel Johnson.

Living on the island was not always easy.  She moved to the island with no furniture, family car, (or the money to purchase) and only 2 dresses. Scharmel would wash one and wear one. She cooked on a 2 burner Coleman Camp Stove. The family slept on the floor and walked from their home in Swetes to Liberta every day where Jerry was a street preacher. He preached every day for 1 year with no results, then on one Sunday, 36 people gave their life to Christ and Galilean was born. The Johnsons trusted God to provide, and he did through the people they witnessed to and not only did they survive, but thrived and grew.

During those early days, Mitch was thrown from the back seat of a car (he was playing with the door handle as Scharmel took a corner and the door flew open. Mitch flew out and hit his head on some concrete against a building. Mitch had a concussion and could not walk or speak. She took him to the hospital where there was no doctor on duty, then drove to the doctor’s office but he wasn’t there. They suggested she try at his house, but he also was not there (there were few phones on the island at that time). All this while she was struggling to keep Mitch awake since allowing him to sleep may result in him going into a coma. She finally decided to put Mitch in God’s hands, she took him home, laid him on the bed and prayed stating, “if you give him back to me or if you take him, so be it.” Mitch slept deeply for several hours, then woke up and ran into the living room with his full faculties restored. Her faith grew.

Another night, Matt fell off a bunk bed and caught his top teeth on a dresser which deformed them, he needed an orthodontist, only problem was there was no orthodontist in Antigua at that time. Mom drove him in the middle of the night to Dr. Fung, our dentist. It just so happened Dr. Fung had a friend visiting from NY. You guessed it, an orthodontist! The Ortho dentist told us he was headed out the door for his Antigua trip and was in the taxicab when he had a strong feeling to go and get his tool bag…he argued with himself that this was a vacation but the feeling was so powerful he had the taxi turn around and he went and got his tool bag…thankfully so he could repair Matt’s teeth. That Dr returned every year at his own expense to treat Matt and ensure he was fully restored. And her faith grew.

The stories of Scharmel’s impact and exploits over her 46 years in Antigua and the Caribbean are too many to list. She was tireless in her service to the people and to God. Her impact stretches for generations into the future. She was an incredible woman and a true example of what one person can do when completely sold out to God. Her legacy is not financial, but spiritual. It lives on in the hearts and souls of each person who had the privilege to know her.

Scharmel is preceded in death by her husband Jerry Johnson. She is survived by Mattew Gordon “Simba” Johnson, Matthew’s wife Cheli Johnson and their 3 children, Chanda, Monica & Benjamin, along with 8 great grandchildren. She is also survived by son Mitchell Wayne “High Breed” Johnson, and his 2 children Jerry Michael Yves Johnson and Jasmine Marie Scharmel (Johnson) Gilcrease and 2 great grandchildren.  The list of her Caribbean Children are too many to list, but just as precious to her.

In her memory, love the unlovely, be fearless in your faith and trust God will provide for you as He provided for them. Her legacy lives on through you.

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