Artie M.  Johnson passed away on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, at IU Arnett Hospital. She was born on September 8, 1935 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, the daughter of Benjamin and Carrie Tibbs. She was the fifth of 6 siblings, having 3 brothers and 2 sisters.

Artie attended Jeffersonville High School. She married in 1951. After her husband returned from the Korean War, they had five daughters before divorcing in 1965.

Throughout her life, Artie worked many jobs in the food industry, from a bakery and grocery to many restaurants, sometimes holding two jobs at a time to make ends meet. Raising her five daughters was her biggest priority in her life. Despite her heavy work schedule, she still found time to attend her daughters’ many school activities and thoroughly enjoyed being involved in their lives. Over the years, they lived in Jeffersonville, Wanatah, and Crown Point before moving to Lafayette in 1965.

In 1974, she began to work at the Lincoln Café, located at 910 Main Street in Lafayette. A year later, she married the true love of her life, Robert Johnson, on May 31, 1975. The two of them were inseparable thereafter. There never was a time of Bob without Artie, or Artie without Bob. For over 30 years, they owned and operated the Lincoln Café, working together six days a week (and for a while, seven days a week). Over the years, two of her daughters also worked with them at the Lincoln. They were renown for knowing their customers as much as for the daily homemade meals and pies. There were multiple years that the Lincoln Café was voted the best breakfast and best pie in the annual Journal & Courier’s Reader’s Choice Awards.

Unfortunately, a fire in 2004 caused the Lincoln Café to close.  Thereafter, both Bob and Artie continued cooking and serving food at Village Pantries in both Lafayette and West Lafayette, as well as the Romney Café in Romney.  After 43 years of marriage, Bob died in August 2018

She and Bob truly loved spoiling their grandchildren with horse and buggy rides and special meals for holidays and birthdays. Artie had a great gift for befriending everyone she met . . . a skill she honed from many years as an attentive waitress . . . and a skill she used daily at Signature Healthcare, where she lived the last two years of her life. She would go out of her way to engage with everyone at Signature, especially those that did not have many visitors or friends. She also enjoyed bowling, corn hole, painting and arts and crafts at Signature.

She was a member of Brown Street United Methodist Church in Lafayette.

Surviving Artie are her five daughters: Annie Housholder (Jerry) of The Villages, Florida; Sharon Newell (Jeff) of Lafayette; Linda Lester of Altamont Springs, Florida; Terry VanLaere (Phil) of West Lafayette; and Vickie Hardesty (Kerry) of Lafayette. There are also six surviving grandchildren: John Hardesty (Karen) of Lafayette, Derrik VanLaere (Christine) of Jackson, Michigan; Tiffany Hardesty of Lafayette, Kyle Newell of Washington DC; Nathan VanLaere (Lindsey) of Lafayette; and Lauren Lester of Charleston, S. Carolina. There also are seven great-grandchildren (all of whom live in Lafayette): Arianna Walkup and Zach Walkup; Kaitlyn VanLaere and Phillip VanLaere: Justin Hardesty and Madisyn Shulheis; and Emmett VanLaere.  She is also survived by her youngest brother Charlie Tibbs of Jeffersonville IN.

Artie was preceded in death by two grandsons Justin Newell (1996) and Daniel Coble (2019), her parents James Benjamin Tibbs (1979) and Carrie Belle Tibbs (1984), and by four of her siblings, Willie Bottorff, Alberta Ward, Ralph Tibbs, and James Tibbs.

The funeral service will be on Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm at St. Mary Cathedral, Lafayette, IN. Father Dennis O’Keefe, Father Bob Klemme and Pastor Ryan Traeger will officiate.  The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to St. Mary Cemetery to build a meditation area for the columbarium. Make checks payable to St. Mary Cemetery and mail to 2122 Old Romney Road, Lafayette, IN 47909.

Share memories and condolences online at www.clapperfuneralservices.com. 

https://my.gather.app/remember/artie-johnson