Ima Jean (Batts) Johnson

Remembering Ima Jean

Ima “Jean” Johnson, aged 73, passed away peacefully on February 8, 2018 at St. Luke’s Hospice Home.  Jean was born on January 24, 1945 in Waco, Texas to late Wilson and Mable Batts. Jean attended Moore High school graduating in May 1963.

Upon graduating Jean married her high school sweetheart Eddie Bell, Jr.; four children were born to this union.  Jean moved to Kansas City, Kansas from Waco, Texas in 1971, where she began working as a medical assistant for Dr. Hobert and Dr. Jasper Fuller. She went on to work in the Wyandotte County District Courts as a Secretarial Bailiff.  She later transferred to the Wyandotte County Adult Probation Department working as an Administrative Assistant, where she retired after 27 years of service.  Jean studied at Donnelly College from 1997 – 1999, where she pursued her Associates of Arts Degree.

In 1980 Jean became a foster parent. She provided a home, love and care for more than 150 children over a period of 38 years.  She also taught Model Approaches to Partnership in Parenting (MAPP), where she shared her personal experiences as a foster parent and taught potential foster parents the skills and techniques needed to become successful foster parents. Jean had an outspoken personality, always speaking her truth and was a blessing to all those who came to know her.

Jean accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior at an early age. She attended the Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ. She raised her children in the Church, teaching them to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

She was preceded in death by her sisters, Bobbie Jean Coppage; and Mattie Marie Hussey.

Jean is survived by her daughters, Theaundreia Bell of Kansas City; LeCrecia Bell; and Sharese Bell-Thomas of Dallas, Texas; Kimberly Ross-Stanley of Kansas City; her son Eddie Bell, Jr., III of Waco, Texas; her only granddaughter, Sharese R. Thomas; grandsons, Antwan Bell; Kenneth Cobb, Jr.; Isaiah Cobb; Novian Cobb; Malachi E. Cobb; Brandon Harris; Malachi J. Bell; and Eddie Bell, Jr., IV;  brother, Fred Batts of Grandview, Missouri; sisters, Dorothy Dale of Kansas City; Mildred Faye Ray of Kansas City; and Mable Kaye Rogers of Kansas City, Missouri; brother in-law, Frank Rogers; sister in-law Alice Batts; first cousin Anita Jewel Spencer;  a host of nieces, nephews, and friends.

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