Carita Vurl Johnson

Carita Vurl Johnson, 93, of Moline, Illinois, and more recently of Springfield, MO, passed away peacefully on January 17, 2015, at James River Care and Rehab. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 23rd, at Wendt Funeral Home in Moline, followed by a funeral service at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be at Moline Memorial Park Cemetery. Carita was “born on the Fourth of July”, in 1921, while her father, major league baseball star William “Baby Doll” Jacobson, played a double-header for the St. Louis Browns. Much of Carita’s early childhood was spent traveling across America following her father’s professional baseball career along with her mother, Vurl Cruse Jacobson, and brothers. After baseball, her father bought a farm in Coal Valley, IL. While in high school, Carita met Leo Johnson, whose parents owned a neighboring farm. The two were married on New Year’s Eve, 1940, in Iowa City, IA. World War II found Leo serving in the United States Navy (Pacific Theatre) while Carita cared for the war wounded as a nurse in Philadelphia. When the war ended, they moved to Moline to live and work. Both were employed by John Deere & Company for many years. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Christine and Richard Hammar of Springfield, MO; a son and daughter-in-law, Dennis and Belinda Johnson of Orion, IL; brothers, Ted (Verna) Jacobson of Coal Valley, IL, and Bruce Jacobson of Omaha, NE; three grandchildren, Rachel Fessler of Irvine, CA, Abraham Hammar of Dalian, China, and Holly Hammar Lear of Aberdeen, Scotland; and two great-grandchildren, Samantha Fessler and Matteo Pascali of Irvine, CA. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, and a grandson, Benjamin Johnson.

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