Merrill Loren Johnson, 85, Centenary Community, passed away at 2:30 a.m., Monday, May 16, 2011, at his home. Born October 14, 1925 in Ohio Township of Gallia County he was the son of the late Chauncey L. and Ruth E. Elliott Johnson. He married Jane Anne Stone on February 4, 1947, in Hartford, West Virginia and she preceded him in death on December 26, 2009.

Merrill was a U.S. Navy veteran of WWII and was a member of Post #4464, Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was a retired Green Township farmer and served as a Green Township Trustee for several years. He loved to camp and spent many enjoyable hours with his friends at McDonalds.

Merrill is survived by his three children, Nicholas Stone and Karen Johnson, Gallipolis, Merrilyn Jane and Kenneth Pridemore, Point Pleasant, W.Va., and Betty Jo and Michael Carter, Gallipolis. He has five grandchildren, James Ray “Jamie” and Mandy Pierce, Nicholas Stone “Stoney” II and Amy Johnson, Joseph Michael and Marie Carter, David Bryan and Mendi Carter and Jill Carter-Morgan and Justin Morgan; ten great-grandchildren, Haley, Morgan, and Kaden Pierce; Jordan and Beau Johnson; Brendan, Blaine, Brodie and Briley Carter and Fox David Morgan.

Also surviving are three sisters, Tressa Cremeens, Gallipolis, Barbara (Michael) Huber, Philadephia, Pa., and Addie (Edmund) D’Andrea, Columbus, Ohio, brother, Bill Joe Johnson, Gallipolis and sisters-in-law, Dorothy Marie James, New Haven, W.Va., and Margaret Jane Johnson, Gallipolis, many nieces and nephews and special friends Charlie Bailey and Omeda Spreigel.

In addition to his parents and wife, Merrill was preceded in death by brothers and sisters-in-law, Vance and Mickey Johnson, Kenneth and Mary Ellen Johnson, John and Mary Johnson, Junior Johnson and Harold Lee Johnson, sisters and brothers-in-law, Bonnie and Harold Swindler, Opal and Ernest Halley, Pauline and Charles Clark, Marland Cremeens and George James.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m., Thursday, May 19, 2011, in the Cremeens Funeral Chapel. Officiating will be Pastor Alfred Holley. Interment will be in the Centenary Cemetery. Friends may call from 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at the chapel. Casketbearers will be Merrill’s grandsons and nephews. Military graveside services will be conducted by the Gallia County Veterans Funeral Detail Team. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Merrill’s memory to the Centenary United Methodist Church, c/o Marilyn Mason, 7651 State Route 7 South, Gallipolis, Ohio 45631 or to Holzer Hospice, 100 Jackson Pike, Gallipolis, OH 45631. Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family by visiting www.cremeensfuneralhomes.com.