Obituary of Lesline Johnson

Lesline Ynolde Johnson (née Waldron) was born April 2, 1943 in Kingstown, St. Vincent to Alfred George and Germaine Waldron (née Maule).

Partly raised by “Nennie” Germaine Stevens, Lesline was a curious and smart child with aspirations to see the world and look good doing it. At age 12, she started designing and sewing her and her inseparable sister Pam’s clothing, embracing a generational gift from God to perform miracles with needle and thread. 

After some schooling in St. Vincent, and after her mother’s passing, Lesline immigrated to the US with her sister in 1961.  Raised by her grandmother, Clara Gordon and her aunt, Agnes Hewitt, she continued her education, attending Wingate High School and then Clara Barton High School for nursing. She briefly worked for Pan-Am which facilitated her early aspirations to visit far-off countries from Nigeria to Ireland. 

During her studies, she met and subsequently married Basil Brown in 1963, and had her first child, Tonya Brown, on March 16th, 1965. With help, Lesline raised Tonya while continuing her nursing degree. On top of being a nurse, she used her seamstress skills to help make ends meet, sewing and selling clothing to wealthy New Yorkers and often gifting outfits and dresses to her friends and family.

After divorcing, Lesline moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where she would meet a life-long friend, Barbara “Pat” Johnson. On a whim, “Aunt” Pat introduced Lesline to Robert Steven Johnson, brother of her then boyfriend (and later, husband) Luther Johnson. Lesline and Robert would marry in 1972 and grow their family; bringing Julie, Steven and Nikolai into the world. She then settled in Flatbush, Brooklyn, providing a stable home, enlightening her children with countless books, encyclopedias, music, movies, baseball and impeccable West Indian cuisine. Lesline made it her mission to instill how important education is to becoming a successful adult, and worked tirelessly to ensure her children had the best opportunity to do so. 

In 1999, she moved the family to Bed-Stuy to be closer to her grandmother Clara, who cared for her decades prior. With her siblings, they “returned the favor” and cared for their grandmother until her passing. Lesline would continue to bring family and friends together, celebrating life over extraordinary cooking and boisterous card games. 

Lesline endured the sudden passing of her first daughter, Tonya. Still, through the years she would gain a loving daughter-in-law in Lindsey and a granddaughter in Soleil.

As Lesline departs this world, those left here to cherish her in loving memory are her children: Julie, Steven and Nikolai; her grandchild, Soleil; her brothers and sisters: Pam, Ken, Claudia and Basil; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.