Dr. Miguel Gonzalez-Abellas regretfully informed Washburn’s faculty that a retired colleague, Simone A. Johnson, had passed March 3 in an email sent out March 5.

She was formerly a professor and the eventual Department Head of French, having worked at Washburn from 1961 to 1986.

A native of Paris, France, she earned degrees from the University of Bordeaux and the University of Algiers and additionally studied at the University of Kansas. Over the course of her successful scholarly career, she remained highly devoted to education.

Her achievements include writing a book entitled “The French Presence in Kansas 1673-1854” and her great dedication to students, teaching for many years until her retirement. To assist French majors in studying abroad, she left the Simone Johnson Award of Excellence Fund.

View her obituary here.

Edited by Adam White, Abbie Barth