Obituary: Nancy Lee Hubbard Johnson Head, New Haven

Nancy Lee Hubbard Johnson Head of New Haven died Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at the Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx. She was the seventh of 11 children and the last surviving child of William Kelly Hubbard and Anna Laura Hubbard of Hodgenville.

She attended Transylvania College in Lexington, boarding a train with two suitcases and five dollars. She returned home during the 1937 flood to register refugees. There, she met her future husband, Patrick Dean Johnson Jr. who was delivering medical supplies by boat. They married June 2, 1937.

She was a lifelong lover of books. She was instrumental in establishing the New Haven Branch of the Nelson County Library. She served as a branch librarian and later served on the Kentucky State Library Board.

She was active in St. Catherine’s church and school, where she taught, sang in the choir, and was a member of the Altar Society. She was skilled with floral arrangements, with her backyard greenhouse providing bouquets for the church, proms, and weddings. She was a member of a bridge club for more than 50 years. She was a champion bowler, golfer, and sharpshooter who loved to fish and hike at the family’s Rough River cabin. She was an active advocate for the environment. Whether cheerleading for her beloved UK Wildcats, dancing, organizing hikes to identify birds and wildflowers, or entertaining visitors from all over the world, she was full of life and always ready to lay a plate and sing a song.

After her first husband’s death in 1984, she married J.B. (Toby) Head in 1992.

She was preceded in death by her second husband; three children, Elizabeth Errol Johnson (1940), Patrick Dean Johnson III (1992), and Laurie Johnson Boone (2012); and one grandson, David Hamilton Young in 1969.

She is survived by six children, Martha Young, Paul Hubbard Johnson, Suzanne Levonian, Barth Johnson, Nancy Derry, and Fenton Johnson; an honorary son Pat Dwyer; three stepdaughters, Janice Duffy, Judy Bullock, and Geralynn Clements; 16 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren; and special caregiver Diana Armani.

The funeral is 10 a.m. Friday, June 9, 2017, at St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church.

Visitation is 1-8 p.m. Thursday, June 8, 2017, and 8-10 a.m. Friday at the William R. Rust Funeral Home in New Haven. In lieu of flowers, donations in the memory of Nancy Head may be made to the Nelson County Library/New Haven Branch, 318 Center St., New Haven, KY 40051, or to St. Catherine Academy, 413 First St., New Haven, KY 40051.

The William R. Rust Funeral Home, 167 N. Main St. in New Haven is in charge of arrangements.

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