Inez L. Johnson, 100, domestic worker

Inez L. Johnson, 100, of Philadelphia, a domestic worker, died Friday, Aug. 21, of heart failure at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Mrs. Johnson was born in 1914 in Aiken, S.C., the ninth of 11 children. Her parents were James Wilson Burris and Lucy Burris.

She moved to Philadelphia in the early to mid-1940s and made her living as a domestic in the home of a Philadelphia physician. She cared for the doctor's family as well as her own for many years.

A resident of Germantown, she outlived two husbands - Bernice (BURR-nis) Williams and Isaac Johnson - a daughter, Ollie Mae Velma Williams, and a son, Howard Johnson. She helped raise her grandson, Howard Ramsey.

Fiercely independent, Mrs. Johnson maintained her own apartment until she was 94, even after falling from a bus and breaking a hip at 91.

She spent nine years at Arbor Terrace, an assisted living facility in Chestnut Hill, and for the last year had been cared for at Bryn Mawr Extended Care Center.

She was honored by Mayor Nutter for having become a centenarian.

"The city does have a luncheon for the centenarians. She couldn't attend, but she was pleased to have the plaque," said great-niece Mary McDaniel. "She posted it on the wall at the nursing home, and everyone ooh'd and aah'd about it."

Mrs. Johnson was a woman of high standards "who expected no less from anyone else," McDaniel said.

Any type of racism was anathema to her, and she would not tolerate it.

She valued nice things and hated to give up her possessions as her health failed. She was frugal as well.

In addition to her grandson, she is survived by four great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

Funeral services are to be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 5333 Pulaski Ave. A viewing will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Burial is private.

610-313-8102