Posey, Christine Johnson

Christine Johnson Posey died April 24, 2018 in Blacksburg, Va. She was born on October 14, 1921 in Seymour,Tn in the pre-civil war house built by her great-grandfather. She was the second child of five in the family of Georgia Keener and Charles W. Johnson.

Growing up, Christine assisted with cooking, sewing, and household activities because the family doctor believed working outdoors on the farm would injure her health. With her grandmother as instructor, Christine became an expert seamstress and made clothes for the whole family from a young age. In later years she also became a weaver making many items for her own family.

Christine commuted on her pony to secondary school at the Harrison-Chilhowee Baptist Academy where she enjoyed playing on the girls basketball team. After graduation she attended Maryville College for two years. She then moved to Knoxville, where she earned a Bachelors Degree in Home Economics with emphasis in textiles and chemistry from the University of Tennessee. She also was a member of the UT Flag Core.

On Christmas Day 1943, in the home where she was born, Christine married Eldon Eugene Posey, a Lieutenant in the US Army Air Force. They briefly lived in Bartow Fla until Eugene was transferred to England. On his return in 1945 Christine nursed Eugene through his recuperation from injuries sustained in Belgium during WWII. Leaving the army behind, they moved to Johnson City, where Eugene completed his undergraduate degree at East Tennessee State College. They then moved to Knoxville where Christine taught nursery school while Eugene attended graduate school at the University the Tennessee in mathematics. While living in Knoxville they had two children, a daughter and a son.

After Eugene’s graduation they moved to Morgantown WVa. Over the course of their marriage they also lived in Blacksburg Va, before settling in Greensboro, NC where Eugene became head of the Mathematics Department of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Christine was an active force in the Faculty Wives Club, raising funds for scholarships and campus works. She hosted a yearly bar-b-que for the faculty and students of the math department. Christine and Eugene endowed a scholarship in the Mathematics Department at UNC-G.

Eugene retired from UNC-G in 1986. Christine and Eugene moved to Warm Hearth retirement community in Blacksburg, Va. in 2005 and Eugene died in 2008. Christine will be laid to rest beside her husband in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg, Va.