Arlene de la Cruz Johnson

"She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." 

Proverbs 31:25 

Arlene left us (in body) at the age of 63 on Tuesday, 13 September 2022, a resident of Garden City, Idaho. Death was due to natural causes according to the doctors.

She was born on a Navy base in Port Hueneme, California to Ramon and Anastacia de la Cruz in August of 1959.

Arlene was the third of four children. Survived by her mother Anastacia de la Cruz and siblings Richard de la Cruz, Annie Wells and Ray de la Cruz, she grew up close with family in Hawaii, Illinois and for a longer time near San Francisco. Always the cheerful and least shy one of the family, they played a lot of ping pong and other games and helped one another through school and into adulthood and its adventures. 

She studied English and Spanish and then did her masters studies in Linguistics at California State University, San Francisco. Her achieved desire was to teach English and display the love of God abroad.

Arlene loved the Lord, family, words, puzzles and language; taught English and Spanish professionally, and began raising five kids with her beloved while living in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

Joel, Ezra, Hannah, David, Shalom and husband Eric Johnson are her immediate family survivors. Their first child, Caleb, was stillborn and, with her father Ramon de la Cruz and many other relatives and friends, welcomed her home.

She was born again and you could tell by her kindness and gentleness. She would gladly tell you about her friendship with Jesus, but didn't care much for strident preaching.

Honest as the day was long, patient, long suffering, and fruitful, she smiled at the future. All this while humbly serving others' needs. Arlene helped others communicate and contribute to the human enterprise in this passing, fragile life. Perhaps her greatest joys here at the end of her journey were cooking, enjoying her family and growing food in the food forest around her homestead and at the church garden.  

The world has lost a saint and only heaven is now to gain.

Services will be at Vineyard Boise Christian Fellowship this Friday morning.

Full service available to view here: 

https://vimeo.com/751336437