Johnsie Virginia (Flanigan) Daisley

Johnsie Virginia (Flanigan) Daisley, 94, of Mentor, passed away Monday, June 10, 2019 at home. Johnsie was born in Statesville, North Carolina, on May 18, 1925 to Col. (Ret.) Robert Lee Flanigan and his wife, Nettie Walker Terry Flanigan. She was named Johnsie for her Mother’s father, John Walker who had died several months before she was born. Scots-Irish-Presbyterian, she and her brother Walter were raised in the segregated South by her mother (her father died when she was 4 and Walter was 9) and Florence Campbell a black woman who came to live with them when Johnsie was 3 months old and suffering with double pneumonia. During high school, Johnsie and eleven friends formed a social club, the Les Amies. The group held parties, luncheons, teas, and hosted guest weeks. The friendships lasted long after high school as the group members kept in touch after marriage and later hosted reunions at Sunset Beach, North Carolina for many years. Johnsie was the last surviving member. In August 1943, at age 18, Johnsie and a Les Amie friend took the train from Statesville to Connecticut where Johnsie was Malcolm Daisley’s blind date for a fraternity weekend at Wesleyan University. Mal and Johnsie were married in June 1945 at the Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia during the 2 weeks that Mal’s ship was in port to be refitted before being sent to Japan. Between their first date and their marriage, Mal and Johnsie had seen each other only 14 times. When Mal’s ship (USS Sturtevant) left for the invasion of Japan, Johnsie returned home to Statesville and to her job as secretary to the personnel manager of a textile mill making nylon for parachutes. Johnsie lived in 7 states, 10 cities, and visited 11 foreign countries. She sailed in Lake Erie, Lake St. Claire, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, North Channel, Georgian Bay, Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and the Indian Ocean. Johnsie grew orchids in her small greenhouse, built and furnished doll houses, and created various needlework, knitting, and sewing projects. She was an avid reader of multiple genres, watched movies (James Bond being her favorite), played the piano (for her own enjoyment), and volunteered at Eleanor Garfield Park and the Painesville YMCA. She sailed and cruised on her husband’s boats (all named Mal De Mer), studied the stock market and researched family history. She is survived by daughters, Brooke Schuster, and Carol Warnick (Ed), grandchildren Allyson Schuster, Drew Kramer (Jenny), and Katie Gaydos (Mike), great-grandchildren Jack Gaydos, Caiden Kramer and nephew and nieces, Walter Cragg, Candace Cragg (Chuck), and Sandy Heise (John). She was preceded in death by her husband, Mal, her mother and father, Col. Robert and Nettie Flanigan, her brother Col. (Ret.) Walter Flanigan (Louise), half-sister, Aileen Terry Dunlop (Bill), half-brother, Joseph Dabney Terry (Mary), Mark Schuster (son-in-law) and 6 little doxies. Private family services were held. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to honor Johnsie be made in her name to the Malcolm and Johnsie Daisley Endowed Scholarship at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland, Ohio 44094. Arrangements entrusted to the Brunner Sanden Deitrick Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 8466 Mentor Ave., Mentor, OH 44060. Please offer condolences at www.brunners.com.

Johnsie Virginia (Flanigan) Daisley

May 18, 1925 - June 10, 2019