Obituary

Alla Johnson, 86, docent, analyst

Alla Louise Carnduff Johnson, a former museum docent and government analyst, died March 19 at Victoria Home in Gaithersburg. She was 86 and had Alzheimer’s disease.

Mrs. Johnson was a native Washingtonian and a resident of Bethesda for six decades. After graduating from the National Cathedral School as a bishop’s scholar, she attended Wellesley College and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1939.

In the early 1940s, she was an assistant to D.C. stockbroker Henry Barnard. She also was an analyst for the Office of Facts and Figures — a precursor to the CIA — under Archibald MacLeish.

A member of the Richard Arnold chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Johnson was a DAR Museum docent for more than three decades.

She founded the nursery school at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in 1957.

Mrs. Johnson was an active member of the Chevy Chase Woman’s Club and the Association of University Women. She was a quiet benefactor to numerous educational endeavors.

A lover of history and antiques, she gave lectures on British pottery and porcelain. She expressed a keen interest in wildlife, wildflowers and the stock market, and was a collector of seashells, Wedgwood pottery and angel figurines.

Mrs. Johnson is survived by a daughter, Margaret Johnson Orrick of Bethesda; a son, Alan Johnson III of Potomac; and 11 grandchildren.

Donations may be made to the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church Nursery School, 6601 Bradley Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20817.