Eileen Harrington Johnson

Eileen Harrington Johnson, loving mother, sister, aunt and beloved friend, left this life in the early hours of the morning of Dec. 6, 2023.

Born on Jan. 31, 1947 on Chicago’s South Side, she was the daughter of Thomas and Catherine (O’Malley) Harrington.

She attended Catholic school at the Academy of Our Lady, from which she graduated in 1965.

She was married to Dr. Michael David Johnson in Chicago on Aug. 26, 1967. After a brief stint in Annapolis, Md., they arrived in Greencastle in 1973, which she called home for the better part of the next five decades.

Life being what it is, she divorced in 1981, and some time later became a part of the Peeler family of Reelsville. Life being life, this also ended in a brief heartbreak, but with the bonus of a long friendship with her almost-mother-in-law, Putnam County icon Marj Peeler, and gaining the fury main character of her life, Charlie “Charles” the Auto-dog.

She began her professional career as an administrative assistant in DePauw University’s economics department, where she worked for nine years. Next she moved to Greencastle’s local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, before finding a calling to service in the Asbury Towers continuing care community in 1995, where she rose to the position of executive director over a nearly decade-long tenure. After that she went on to be the executive director of the Putnam County chapter of Mental Health America, from which she retired at least three times.

She loved gardening, her dog, Charlie (the mayor of East Walnut Street), quilting, writing, collecting art, her circle of friends affectionately known as the “lunch bunch” and traveling with her sister, Kathleen.

She was preceded in death by her sister and brother-in-law, Maryanne (Harrington) Moore and Donald Moore of Chicago, and her sister and brother-in-law, Kathleen (Harrington) Szymanski and Albert Szymanski of Parke County.

She is survived by her son and his partner, Christopher Johnson and Charm Bitanga of New York; her brother and sister-in-law, Thomas Harrington and Marilyn (Brown) Harrington of New Buffalo, Mich.; several nieces and nephews; and many more great-nieces and great-nephews, cousins and extended family.

If you would like to donate in Eileen’s name, please consider the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) (aspca.org) or Mental Health America of Putnam County (MHAoPC) (www.mhaopc.org/support-mhaopc/donate/).