Margaret Melba Johnson Rhone

Funeral Services Celebrating the Life of Mrs. Margaret Johnson Rhone, 103, of West Monroe, LA will be held at 11:00 A.M. Thursday, September 24, 2020 in the chapel of Mulhearn Funeral Home West Monroe, LA with Rev. Ted Freeland officiating. Interment will follow in the Hasley Cemetery in West Monroe, LA.
Margaret Johnson Rhone was born on January 11, 1917 in Crockett, TX, the ninth child of Mary Eldora Harrison Johnson and James E. Johnson. She died in West Monroe, LA on September 22, 2020 after a long illness. Mrs. Rhone married her childhood sweetheart, Robert Franklin Rhone and they made their home in West Monroe, LA, where he was employed by Brown Paper Mill. While many of their peers were offended by the smoke and cinders from the mill, they considered it their “bread and butter”. They were blessed by the births of two daughters, Barbara Jean Rhone and Denna Maureen Rhone. When the daughters were aged 13 and 10 they were blessed by the birth of a son, Robert F. Rhone, Jr.
Margaret and her family were charter members of Brownville Methodist Church, which later evolved into Asbury United Methodist Church. Her church family was very important to her. She was very talented and could do anything she set her mind to. Mrs. Rhone enjoyed all kinds of crafts, canning and freezing vegetables and fruits. She was always busy. She enjoyed quilting and sewing especially. She sewed all her mother’s clothes without benefit of patterns, and sewed for her daughters until they started working. She also sewed for a good friend, Mrs. Shirley Works Moore, sewing pretty dresses, and gowns for every season and occasion up until she was 95. Mrs. Rhone was a good cook and enjoyed preparing home-cooked meals. It was a source of pleasure for her to provide a safe haven in her home for recreation and social activity for her children and their friends. The last months of her life were difficult as she was forced to admit she couldn’t do what she used to and wanted to do.
When her son entered school, she enrolled in and completed the Louisiana Practical Nursing Course, so she’d be prepared for his education should she be required to do so. Luckily that was not required.
Mrs. Rhone is preceded in death by her parents; eight siblings; her husband, her son; and grandson-in-law, Mark Zachry.
Survivors include her daughters, Barbara Jean Rhone, and Denna Maureen Rhone Ballard and husband, Richard; daughter-in-law, Frances Luffey Rhone; granddaughter, Tammy Ballard Zachry; great granddaughter, Katie Zachry Meredith and husband, Jamie and their sons, Noah, Jonah, Luke, and Levi; great grandson, Paul Zachry and wife, Lauren and their children, Haylea and Owen.
Pallbearers will be Paul Zachry, Jamie Meredith, Joey Gardunio, Alex Gaedunio, Rick Ray, and Richard Ballard.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M on Thursday.
Online Registry/Condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com