Alumni Hall of Fame
Service to St. Marys City Schools (2022)

Naomi Fern Leffel was born and raised in Auglaize County, Ohio, and graduated from St. Marys Memorial High School in the Class of 1947. After graduation, Fern attended teacher training at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. In 1948, she began her teaching career as Miss Leffel, teaching for St. Marys City Schools at Noble School in Noble Township. This was at a time when teachers did not have to have a four – year degree to be certified to teach. This was the beginning of a teaching career that lasted over 30 years as a first grade teacher in St. Marys City Schools.

Fern married Ned Johns in 1950, returning to the first grade classroom as Mrs. Johns. In the midst of marriage and raising five children, Fern earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, in 1968. In 1972, she earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She was proud that in her career as an educator she taught nearly 1,000 Roughriders how to read, which is truly a gift that lasts and affects an entire lifetime. Many former students recall Mrs. Johns as a kind, compassionate, caring, and inspiring teacher who left a lasting impression on her young students. In addition, other teachers recall her incredibly giving nature – both while she served as a teacher and for volunteering countless hours in her retirement to help and mentor other teachers. Although Mrs. Johns retired at the conclusion of the 1986 – 1987 academic school year, she never truly left education or the classroom. She continued to bring reading into the homes of children selling World Book Encyclopedias and working at Educators School Supply. She also volunteered as a reading mentor at one of her former buildings, West Elementary School, where she continued to serve as a mentor to many new teachers and provided valuable assistance, advice, and support to other teachers. She spent countless hours collecting, organizing, and submitting labels from Campbell Soup products and General Mills’ “Box Tops for Education” Program to each corporation, turning the labels into school supplies and cash that benefitted the students of St. Marys City Schools in ways she never knew.

Mrs. Johns’ influence and impact in the classroom and on St. Marys City Schools was significant. Her influence and impact was felt beyond the classroom, and in the community at large, in many charitable organizations with which she was involved, and in the church she attended throughout her life, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. She and her husband, Ned. along with her sister – in – law, Ruth Langsdon, owned and operated Johns Furniture and Floor Covering for 37 years. In addition, Fern volunteered at Joint Township District Memorial Hospital, Grand Lake Home Health and Hospice, Friends of the St. Marys Community Public Library, St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce, The Red Cross, and the St. Marys American Legion Auxiliary. She gave of herself and her time to fulfill what she felt was her calling from the Lord to serve people in any way she could. Mrs. Fern Johns passed away on January 28, 2018, and she was laid to rest at Elm Grove Cemetery in St. Marys, Ohio. In memory of Ned and Fern, The Ned and Fern Johns Clear Passage Endowment Fund was established with the Joint Township District Memorial Hospital Foundation.



For her outstanding service to St. Marys City Schools and the greater St. Marys community, for her unwavering dedication to the field of education and to serving and inspiring hundreds of students for decades in the St. Marys City Schools, the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts Mrs. Fern Johns into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame for Service to St. Marys City Schools.