Karen Johnson Conway’s BIG ADVENTURE came to a tranquil end February 9, 2026, not far from where it began nearly 96 years prior, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Oh, but the trails she travelled!
Born the third child and only daughter to C. Walton and Kitty Poole Johnson, the founders/directors of Weaverville’s Camp Sequoyah, Karen experienced a most unusual childhood, growing up at an outdoor adventure camp for boys where one learned practical skills, but more importantly, developed a foundational Christian, moral character. Canoeing, hiking, shooting archery, and learning Indian lore figured into her summers, but riding, jumping, and showing horses developed into a teenage passion. Young Karen was a model camper: she thrived in that social outdoor setting and, indeed, dedicated her life to carrying a torch for Christ. Busy parents let her explore the wilds of nature on her own, and sent her at a young age to experience other summer camps around the country (notably in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado), and then later to boarding school at Montreat College. There, and during her fun-filled years at Coker College in Hartsville, SC, she forged friendships that lasted a lifetime.
While working summers in the craft shop at camp, she concluded her education with a Master’s Degree in Physical Education at UNC Chapel Hill, writing her thesis on camping in America, then took a job teaching PE at a private school in Miami, FL. Wanderlust must have taken hold, as she soon famously sold her silver flute to buy passage to Alaska, where she lived a summer with her brother’s young family on the Kenai peninsula. While teaching in Raleigh, NC, she kindled a relationship with a camp counselor she’d met at Sequoyah, who was then teaching at NC State. She and Eustace Conway III tied the knot before God in 1960, binding a marriage that would only be undone 55 years later upon his death in 2015. After marriage Karen gave up her job to start her real career, raising four children in much the same vein as she had been raised, pushing them into the woods, sending them to summer camps, and leading them to revere and celebrate their creator. She perceived her motherly work as lifelong, remaining the biggest supporter and fan of her children and their spouses, of her 9 grandchildren, and 2 great grands, giving tirelessly and big heartedly, thereby earning the moniker Big Mom.
Before returning to her beloved mountains to spend her twilight years, she lived in Columbia, SC, then spent five decades in Gastonia, NC, where she took active part and found caring fellowship at the First Baptist Church. Her love for travel (road trips out West, then to Europe, and continuously, vicariously through her children) paired nicely with her passion for food and eating out. But she will be remembered by most for her exceptional kindness, generosity (gift giving came like breathing to her!), and open heartedness. And her letters. And her inspiring, eternal optimism, fueled by her faith. Even up into her 90’s, and to the very end, bed bound, blind, and mostly deaf, when asked how she was doing, she always believed she was doing “Good!” and was so glad to see another day. She had business here to attend to, until the Lord saw fit to take her.
The family will be forever indebted to the many friends and dedicated care givers who helped us celebrate her these last years and return a fraction of the love she gave.
She is survived by her four children: sons Eustace IV, Walton, and Judson (Eunice) Conway, all of Boone, NC, and daughter Martha Norberg of Wake Forest, NC. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her brothers Harold and Bill Johnson, and her daughter-in-law Betty Miller Conway. Learn more about Karen Conway’s life through her interviews posted on YouTube: Memories of Sequoyah with Karen Conway – YouTube
Funeral Service will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, February 28, 2026 at Meat Camp Baptist Church with burial following at Meat Camp Baptist Church Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to Meat Camp Baptist Church, 236 Meat Camp Baptist Church Rd, Boone, NC 28607, or to First Baptist Church of Gastonia, 2650 Union Rd, Gastonia, NC 28054, or to The Salvation Army of The High Country, PO Box 241148 Charlotte, NC 28224.
Online condolences may be shared at www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com