CLAIRE JOHNSON, 98, ACTIVE IN LYNN, SALEM, AND MARBLEHEAD

Marion Claire Devlin Johnson died Saturday, Sept. 17, in the arms of her family. She was 98. She was an active member of the community in Lynn, Salem, and Marblehead.

Claire, as she was known all her life, was born on July 10, 1918 in Lynn, Massachusetts. She was the oldest child of Arthur T. and Marion Venini Devlin of Tilton Terrace, Lynn.

A 1936 graduate of St. Mary's Girls High School in Lynn, she was valedictorian of her class. She was the first in her family to go to college, graduating from Emmanuel College in Boston in 1940. In 1942, she received her master's degree in social work from St. Louis University.

During World War II, she worked as a medical social worker at the Massachusetts General Hospital. There she met her future husband, William E. Johnson of Hartford, Connecticut, who was a student at Harvard Medical School. At Claire's urging, they began to learn how to sail on the Charles River.

The couple married on May 12, 1945. In 1946, Dr. William Johnson was commissioned as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, serving for three years in the Central Pacific. He and Claire were stationed first at Naval Base Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii, and then at Naval Air Station Midway Island, where they developed an interest in bird watching among the several species of seabirds nesting on the atoll.

Claire and Bill returned to the mainland in 1949, living for three years Rochester, Minnesota, after Dr. Johnson received a fellowship to study orthopedics at the Mayo Clinic.

In 1952, the couple and their first three children returned to the North Shore. In addition to raising a family and being an active partner in her husband's medical practice, Claire became a student of Salem's rich architectural heritage, volunteering at the Essex Institute. A careful researcher, she wrote an article on the historic houses of Lafayette Street that the Institute accepted for publication in its historical journal.

By 1962, there were six children in the Johnson family. The family lived from 1953 to 1958 in Salem, moving to Marblehead. Claire encouraged the children in music, dance, and sailing, and pursued her own many interests, which included French, Italian, fine art, swimming, tennis, and birding. When her children grew older, she worked at North Shore Catholic Charities handling adoptions.

Claire and Bill shared a strong interest in world travel. They visited Bermuda, Mexico, many countries of Europe, the British Isles, China, and Afghanistan. As Bill began to retire from his medical practice in the mid-1980s, Claire brought her skills in organizing trips to work as a travel agent, first at Warwick Travel in Marblehead and later at Odina Travel in Salem. She made the most of her years in the travel industry, taking agent informational trips to the Caribbean and Australia, and organizing family reunions in Antigua and Barbados.

In Marblehead, she was a member of the Corinthian and Eastern Yacht Clubs, and a mainstay on the family sailboat "Elsinore" for many Eastern Yacht Club cruises. She became a very good club tennis player, excelling at doubles tennis well into her 70s.

Claire is preceded in death by her husband, William Johnson, in 2010; a brother, Timothy Devlin of Lynn, in 1990; and a sister, Marguerite Rigby of Beverly, in 2008.

She is survived by six children: David of Stratham, New Hampshire; Mark of Tahoe City, California; Paul of Manchester by the Sea; Robert of Lynn; Anne of Cambridge; and Martha of Vashon Island, Washington; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Claire's family wants to express its enduring gratitude to the staffs of the Brudnick Center in Peabody and Senior Care Management of Marblehead for their tireless efforts on behalf of Claire and the family during Claire's final years.

Visiting hours will be Friday, Sept. 23, from 4 to 8 at the Murphy Funeral Home in Salem. A funeral Mass will be said for Claire on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 10 a.m. in Star of the Sea Church, Marblehead, followed by a graveside service in Waterside Cemetery, Marblehead. For additional information or online guestbook please visit www.MurphyFuneralHome.com or call 978-744-0497.