Jayne M. Johnson Fund

Jayne M. Johnson was a member of the Wakefield High School Class of 1979. She graduated from Merrimack College with the class of 1983 and also attended the Essex Agricultural & Technical Institute class of 1990. She worked at Melrose Wakefield Hospital for fifteen years and left there in 1993. She also worked at Winchester Hospital as a Surgical Technologist for thirteen years until she became ill in 2007. Jayne decided to establish a fund in her own name after she was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive, disabling, usually fatal disease. Walking, speaking, eating, swallowing, breathing, and other basic functions become more difficult with time. In September of 2007 when she established this scholarship, she wrote, “I have always appreciated the TSF of Wakefield. Whenever I applied for a scholarship, they were always there for me. I never forgot that and so, for many years, I have contributed to them. I had also dreamed of setting up a fund in my name so that I could help a student the way I was helped. Recently, I was diagnosed with the disease ALS. With this type of diagnosis, I began to think about all I had accomplished in my life and I realized, there was something still sitting on my “To Do” list! I realized that I hadn’t fulfilled this dream yet. This is how and why this fund is being established, so that I can give back to the community, the way they helped me!” Jayne died on July 1, 2008.