Charles W. Johns

Memorial services for Charles W. Johns, 69, Lawrence, will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Trinity Episcopal Church. Cremation is planned.Mr. Johns died Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, at his home.He was born Sept. 2, 1938, in Morris, Okla., the son of Henry and Velma Brown Johns. He graduated from Morris High School in 1957 and later from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla.Mr. Johns taught elementary school in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. He became a labor relations specialist with the Kansas National Education Association in 1973 and retired in 2004. He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Sunnyside Autoharp Players and a charter member of the Americana Music Academy of Lawrence.He married Claudette Downs in Lawrence. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a son, Todd and fiancee Carla Swartz, Toluca Lake, Calif.; a daughter, Heather Johns, Lawrence; two stepdaughters, Michelle Lamp and husband Eric, Wichita, and Teri Lance and husband Robert Layton, Orlando, Fla.; a brother, Henry and wife Wanda, Morris, Okla.; and six grandchildren, Harrison, Caleb, Claudia and Griffin Lamp, Emma Moege and Olivia Layton.The family will receive friends following the services in the church fellowship hall.The family suggests memorials to the Lawrence Humane Society, Lawrence Arts Center or Morris, Okla., Public Library, sent in care of Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.