Virginia Johnson: Life in humanities

Virginia Johnson can still hear the words of her father.

"If you say you're going to do something, your word has to be good, and you should do better than what is expected of you."

The daughter of Charles and Dorothy Tinsley took those words to heart in everything she did. Whether marriage, family, work or just being a friend, she gave it 100 percent, every day, all the time.

Her efforts were noticed.

The Idaho Humanities Council will honor the retired North Idaho College English professor with its award for "Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities" at a wine/dessert reception and award ceremony on Thursday, April 26, 7 p.m., at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Shore Room.

The award, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, will be presented to Johnson for her exemplary four-decade career as a mentor teacher of literature and writing at North Idaho College, and for many years of reaching off-campus to bring the humanities to Idahoans of all ages. The reception is free and open to the public.

"Virginia Johnson is a tremendous force for the humanities," said IHC Chair Katherine Aiken, Dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences at the University of Idaho. "Her enthusiasm for literature, history, music, and theater is inspiring."

Johnson began teaching English at NIC in 1966, and went on to earn her doctorate from Idaho State University in 1974. She retired from NIC in 2009, after serving 10 years as chair of the Division of Communication, Fine Arts and Humanities. At the time of her retirement, she was NIC's longest-serving employee.

Over her career she taught thousands of students, won awards for her teaching, and was a mentor for dozens of young faculty members.

Among her awards, she was honored for "Excellence in Teaching" by the Inland Northwest Council of Teachers of English in 1987, and that same year became the first woman and first western teacher to receive the William H. Meardy Award for teaching from the Association of Community College Trustees. A year later, she received the NIC Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, and in 1989 was selected by Gov. Cecil Andrus to serve on a 15-member Blue Ribbon Task Force on education.

In addition to college teaching, Johnson has been especially active in her community and did not end her involvement when she retired from teaching three years ago.

Over the years she served many local organizations, including serving on the board of directors of the Coeur d'Alene Art and Culture Alliance, and on the board of the Idaho Humanities Council.

Fascinated with the life of 18th century British writer and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, Johnson took a sabbatical and went to Europe one year to trace Wollstoncraft's steps, returned to Coeur d'Alene, and developed a Chautauqua-style performance of Wollstonecraft for NIC's Popcorn Forum. She presented this performance many times.

While serving six years on the Idaho Humanities Council's board of directors, the Coeur d'Alene woman helped launch the North Idaho Annual Distinguished Humanities Lecture and Dinner in 2004 and remains active as a scholar in many grassroots humanities projects and programs.

In nominating Johnson for the award, her NIC colleague Fran Bahr commented that Johnson "never ceases to serve, support, encourage, cajole, recommend, advertise, and assist those in the humanities."

Did you always love literature?

From the time I was being read to by my mother. I remember taking stacks of books home from the library, as many as I could. Fiction, nonfiction, science, biology.

Of all the books you've read, do you have a favorite author?

That's impossible to say.

How about a favorite book?

That's also impossible to say.

A book that really influenced my life was the biography of Marie Curie.

It was a revelation. It was about a woman who could become a scientist, it was about a woman who won the Nobel Prize. It was about a woman who gained all this fame and made all those wonderful discoveries.

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JOHNSON

from C1

It was like, 'You mean a woman could do all this?'

What does it take to be a good writer?

Reading a lot. Why would you practice a craft you have not seen, you have not read. I think you have to just have a feeling for language, and you have to understand how language affects people, and you have to understand people. You have to be able to know what goes on in the human heart in order to be able to depict it.

What's a key to success?

Choosing the right word. You have to really love language and care about the right word.

A story I would to tell my students was about Sylvia Plath, how she labored over the right word, that she stayed up all night to find one word for one poem. You have to really care about language and people and mixing them together.

What don't you miss about teaching?

I don't miss politicians and meetings and trying to solve problems we thought we solved 10 years ago, but keep going around.

How much do you miss teaching?

I miss working with the kids. I really like being around young people. I love their ideas. All teachers love it when the lights go on, 'I get it,' and you inspire them.

Do you keep in touch with students?

I just had a great exchange on Facebook with a former student of mine who has been accepted to Cambridge in England. He's going to study medieval literature and he has been so sweet to thank me for getting him started on that path. Not everybody gets to see that.

How nice is it to see the influence you've had?

The last thing you really know about yourself is your effect, and I feel really blessed that I know some of my effect.

SNAPSHOT

Virginia Johnson

Education: College of Idaho; University of Idaho; Idaho State University. "I'm an Idaho girl."

Family: Married 39 years to Graydon; two sons, Adam and Matthew; three grandchildren.

Hobbies: Mushrooming, fly fishing, traveling.

Favorite movie: Apocalypse Now

Favorite music: Classical, blues, rock and roll, bluegrass

Person who most influenced your life: My parents, Charles and Dorothy Tinsley. Both of my parents had really strong work ethic.

Best advice you ever received: Take your writing deadly seriously, but take yourself with a grain of salt.

Quality you admire most in a person: Genuineness

One thing you consider your greatest accomplishment: Our two sons.