Dr. Charles Dewayne Johnson left this life on July 12, 2022 at Sanctuary Hospice House in
Tupelo. He didn’t pass away, he worked and labored for every moment right up to the end.
We are thankful that his job here is done and that he can now rest easy and leave the work to
us.
Charles Johnson was born on June 12, 1937 in Golden, Mississippi to Alvia Demarcus
Johnson and Ruth Faye Howell Johnson. They each had ten brothers and sisters, and as the
first grandchild in both families he might have been just a bit spoiled. However, every bit of
love and attention he was given as a child was paid back tenfold, as his family was the most
important thing in his life.
He is preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Dr. Dwight Johnson. He is survived by
his wife of 57 years, Martha Ann Martin Johnson, his children, Catherine Johnson Mincy and
her husband Jeff, Carrie Johnson Cobb and her husband Jimmy, and Charles D. Johnson, Jr.,
Chuck, and his husband, JP Singh. The joy of his senior years was being Papaw to Meridith
Leigh Mincy, Leslie Kate Mincy, John Charles Cobb and Rebecca Ann Cobb. He is also
survived by a host of cousins and nieces and nephews, who will miss their Uncle Charlie, and
two aunts, Hildred Howell and Mondale Johnson. Also counted among family are his dear
friends, Mike Green and James Cleveland and Jeaneen Brown who worked as his dental
assistant for decades and served as his loved caregiver in the last years of his life.
He graduated from the University of Mississippi then served in the United States Marine Corps
before attending dental school at the University of Tennessee where he completed his
doctorate of dental surgery. Over the course of his 53 years of dentistry, he provided dental
care to the communities of Booneville & Prentiss county, Tishomingo, Tremont, Tupelo,
Belmont, Leaksville & Fulton, Mississippi. He participated in dental mission trips to Honduras &
Guatemala. He loved every aspect of his chosen career and took great pride providing the
best dental care possible to his patients.
In addition, Charles was a farmer, forester, business man, hunter and fisherman, and a prolific
collector of, among other things, knives, cameras & books. He was a 33 degree Mason, a
Shriner, a Lion’s Club member and an alumnus of the LD Pankey Institute which focuses on
providing advanced dental education to dentists. He was a life long Baptist, having been
baptized in his youth at Salem Baptist Church where he will now be buried. He was a member
of the First Baptist Church in Booneville. While he did not attend church faithfully, he was a
man of faith.
Services will be at McMillan’s Funeral Home Friday, July 15 at 2:00pm with visitation from 12 to
2pm. Dr. Lynn Jones will be officiating and a private burial will follow at Salem Baptist Church
Cemetery. Pallbearers are nephews Christopher Johnson & John Guin, Dee Jenkins, cousins
Matthew Oswalt, Stephen Howell, John Orton, Paul Orton, Thomas Chism, & Daniel Newberry.
Honorary pallbearers are James Cleveland, Mike Howell, Jim Nelson, Mike Steele, Gene
Dickinson, Gary Bridges, Bill Armstrong and Eugene Wilkins.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Tree of Life Free Clinic or Sanctuary Hospice
House. The family is much indebted to the staff at Sanctuary for the excellent and loving
attention they showed him over his last three months in their care. Dr. Johnson volunteered
and donated equipment to the Tree of Life Dental Clinic before his retirement.
Tree of Life Free Clinic, PO Box 847, Tupelo, MS 38802
Sanctuary Hospice House, 5159 West Main Street, Tupelo, MS 38803
