Robbie Althea Newsom Johnson

Robbie Althea Newsom Johnson, of Bradenton, Florida passed away of natural causes on August 31, 2026, peacefully in the presence of her sons Benjamin Levi Johnson and Ian McKeag Johnson and his wife Melissa Johnson.

Robbie was born on June 10, 1950, in Pikeville, Kentucky, to Robert and Joyce Newson.

She is survived by her two sons McKeag Johnson and Levi Johnson, and her bother Peter Newsom, McKeag’s wife Melissa Johnson, Peter’s daughter Martha Paige Browning, her husband Blake Browning and their two sons.

Robbie had a long and storied career, a few highlights we shall share:

Prior to becoming a nurse, she thought she wanted to be French translator and lived in Paris France for a year. She enjoyed that year but realized translation wasn't in her future.

She received her Bachelor of Nursing from University of Kentucky and went to work for the Veterans Administration taking care of our nation’s warriors in the 1970s.

She was a professor of nursing at University of Pikeville in the 1980s.

She was a professor of nursing at Lynchburg General Hospital starting in the late 1980s and 1990s.

She received her Masters in Nursing from University of Virginia in the late 1980s.

She was a professor of nursing University of Lynchburg in the 2000s up until her retirement.

She never really retired though…

In retirement she was a professor of nursing at multiple online universities including University of Arizona Online, West Coast University, and others I can’t even remember, and teaching online courses for UVA and Central Virginia Community College. She taught online up within a year of her passing at the age of 76.

She loved her two sons and gave us everything we needed to succeed in life, including an excellent role model. She also loved her nursing students, which seemed to drive her to never quit teaching.

She moved to Bradenton Florida (near Anna Maria Island) in 2020 where she had been visiting since 1969 and had been spending her winters since retirement from University of Lynchburg.

She had a little dog named Rusty, a Shih Tzu, that was her closest companion for nearly the entirety of her last 16 years of life, Rusty passed away about a year before she did. She missed Rusty so much and they are together forever now.

She was a wonderful mother to us, and she will be missed dearly.

A memorial service will be held at Tharp Funeral Home- Lynchburg on Saturday, October 24, 2026 at 9:30 AM. A visitation will be held prior to the service from 8:00 AM until 9:30 AM.

Tharp Funeral Home, Lynchburg is assisting the family.