A pastor’s daughter known for her artistic and musical talent died Sept. 2 at age 17. Sarah Anne Johnson was involved in a one-car accident in Asheboro.
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“Sarah was cheerful, talented in art and music, and committed to doing her best,” said Rick Holbrook, director of Fort Caswell, North Carolina’s Baptist Assembly on Oak Island. “She was grounded in her faith and had a true servant’s heart.”
Johnson was the daughter of Pastor Arlen and Kimberly Johnson and a member of Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Troy, the church her father led. Johnson served on Caswell’s food service staff this summer during the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s Youth Weeks and other events and retreats.
“Sarah was a good worker, always cheerful and pitched in whenever and wherever needed to get the job done,” Holbrook said.
Holbrook told the Biblical Recorder that Johnson had attended camp in previous years and had served as volunteers with her family at Caswell.
“I think that the spiritual impact Caswell left on me is the most important,” she said in her application for summer employment at Caswell. “As a pastor’s daughter, I’m used to being ‘in church’ but Caswell was so much more about me getting closer to God than just being obligated to be at church and for that I’m grateful.”
Johnson was in her senior year at Fayetteville Street Christian School in Asheboro. She was on the school’s volleyball team and in the senior choir. She played piano and guitar.
A report in The Courier-Tribune indicated Johnson was pronounced dead on the scene. She was driving a 1997 Ford pickup in rain on a wet road. She crossed the center line, hit a ditch, overturned and struck a tree on the side of the road. The North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper did not indicate that weather played a factor in the incident in his report, but speed could have been a factor. Johnson was wearing a seatbelt.
The Courier-Tribune article said Ash-Rand Rescue, Franklinville Fire and Rescue and Randolph County EMS responded to the scene, along with the trooper.
She is survived by her parents and sisters, Carrie Grace Johnson and Hannah Joy Johnson, all of Franklinville; and grandparents, Brenda Johnson of Asheboro and Daniel and Ann Morris of Troy.
Memorials may be made to N.C. Assembly at Fort Caswell, 100 Caswell Beach Rd., Oak Island, NC 28465