Candace Suzanne Johnson of Kingston, IL, age 65, passed away peacefully on October 10, 2022, after a courageous battle with cancer.  She is survived by her husband and best friend of 45 years, Leslie Johnson, as well as her two children, Brianna (Steven) and Ben (Kim).  She is also survived by her four wonderful grandchildren: Harper, Coraline, Hattie, and Corbin.

Candy was born on December 19 ^th , 1956.  That very same year the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan, President Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, and Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.  If anyone thought this obituary was going to skip on fun facts, may they be sadly mistaken.  Candy held numerous accomplishments throughout her lifetime.  These accomplishments have included events of athleticism and academia of the highest caliber.  Bowling afficionado, arm wrestling champion, MVP and Co-Captain of the Kingston Synchronized Swimming Squad, and masterclass cheater at Password.

She was also a master woodworker.  Over the years she created absolute masterpieces that no one should have any right to make out of their own garage.  Let alone, someone who was self-taught on all the intricacies of wood working such as constructing the perfect mortise and tenon joint to utilizing a bench dog.  The fact that so many people possess these totems of oak, maple, and cherry which bear the soul of such an amazing woman emits joy beyond words.

Candy is also survived by another group.  A legion of friends that are too numerous to count.  Friends that were not really friends, but rather an extended family.  An extended family that graciously accepted her own family as their own.  For that we are all eternally grateful.  For anyone reading this with a tear in their eye or a grin on their face please know that Candy loved you as well.

Perhaps we will never remember Candy in the conventional sense.  Despite the beauty of early morning dew on a warm spring morning or the sensation of a gentle sunset on a warm summer night, she may never be so enthusiastically remembered by such things.  May she be remembered as how she was.  The smell of sawdust and the ripping sound of her bandsaw.  Waiting at the end of a driveway and hearing the distant hum of a diesel engine in what can only be her school bus.  Walking into someone's home or bar, only to be greeted by your most cherished friends and family…and hearing that one person's voice and laughter above anyone else's.  The look on a dog's face when they seem to smile as she would itch their ears and kiss them between the eyes.  The feeling of a warm embrace and love when you return from a distant land.  While sorely missed, she will live within our hearts and continue to speak to our incorporeal being.  Love you.

Please Note:  A Celebration of Life will take place at The Five Points Pub in Kingston, IL on October 21 ^st at 6PM.  This event is open to all whom wish to celebrate and remember the life of Candy Johnson.

Arrangements were completed by the Slater-Butala Funeral Home of Genoa.  To sign the online guest book, go to www.butalafuneralhomes.com