Debra Johnson, champion for underserved residents along lower Russian River, dies at 70

Beth Jackson was among a group of friends who answered Debra Johnson’s call for volunteers to help cook meals a couple times a month for homeless individuals at the Guerneville Veterans Memorial Building.

More than just a warm plate of food, the dinner service was an opportunity to be in community,  and for the group to get to know some of their homeless neighbors.

For years, a growing concentration of homeless individuals on the lower Russian River had troubled and frustrated business owners and residents, particularly in Guerneville where there was a visible downtown presence.

“People don’t really look at homeless people, they try to ignore them, walk around them, but Debra was really engaging. She cared and she made them feel important and that they were worth something in our society,” Jackson recalled.

Johnson, a longtime fixture in the business and nonprofit sector in Guerneville, died Sept. 25 after living with cancer. She was 70.

Johnson helped spearhead the winter shelter program at the veterans building with some county money and together with volunteers provided meals and other support.

And she also was one of the most vocal proponents of finding more permanent solutions to the issue, including a central location where underserved residents could access housing, medical care and other services in west county.

“I think everyone always agrees that they want to address homelessness but there are very few people who are willing to speak out and step up for tangible solutions. And she was one of those people,” Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said. “I can’t think of anyone else who was a bigger champion for our unsheltered community or, as a private citizen, not an elected official, took so many arrows for that cause.”

She came at the issue with compassion and understanding, an attitude shaped by a desire to transform a challenging upbringing and personal experience with drug and alcohol use as well as homelessness into help for those who needed it.

“She would speak very compellingly about challenges she had experienced in the past and how that kind of brought her to this place of compassion for folks who were struggling and a belief that they deserved a second chance,” said Hopkins, who met Johnson about a decade ago when she first ran to represent western Sonoma County.

Johnson’s death, announced on Facebook last weekend, reverberated across the unincorporated area and led to an outpouring of tributes from those who were touched by Johnson’s larger-than-life persona, work as a realtor, and community advocacy.

She served as chair of the West County Community Services board and vice chair of the West County Community Health board. She also led the Russian River Chamber for about 10 years and was active in the local recovery community.

Friends remembered her joyous laughter, approachable nature, get-it-done attitude and a giving spirit that led to lasting changes in Guerneville.

“When your cup is full, everything that overflows is for the benefit of others and Debra saw it as her responsibility to give back,” friend Wendy Bignall said.

Johnson, who had grown up in Southern California, blew into Guerneville some 40 years ago and quickly sought to establish her presence in town. Jackson, who at the time owned a clothing shop downtown called Memories that Linger, recalled her arrival.

Though she didn’t like to cook, Johnson purchased Brew Moon coffee shop, Jackson said, as a way to get her foot in the door and get involved in the community.

The two, along with Carol Kanner, who owned the video store downtown, struck up a friendship. For Johnson and Kanner, the friendship eventually bloomed into something more.

They were together for more than 30 years and officially married in 2013 after same-sex marriage was legalized in the state.

Jackson and Johnson collaborated for years on Women’s Weekend, a then twice-yearly event that drew thousands to the Russian River, organizing tournaments at Northwood Golf Club and other events for attendees.

“It was a lot of fun,” Jackson said. “We were always laughing.”

After running the coffee shop and later the video store with Kanner, Johnson eventually opened and was the principal broker at Berkshire Hathaway Sonoma County Properties on Main Street.

She firmly believed everyone deserved a place to make their own and she delighted in being able to find the perfect home for friends and newcomers alike.

That belief extended beyond those with financial means to settle in the wooded hillsides and along the lower river region, friends said.

She and Kanner purchased a former resort with several small cabins that they rented to vulnerable community members, including people who were previously homeless, had mental health issues or drug use issues.

That belief also was part of the driving force behind her push for greater access to housing services and other resources that would help fill a gaps in an area that nonprofits and government officials acknowledged was woefully underserved compared to other parts of Sonoma County.

Johnson was part of a group established in 2010 by the Sonoma County Community Development Commission and tasked with evaluating and recommending solutions for shelter and other needs in the lower Russian River.

Though the group’s work was shelved in the Great Recession, Johnson kept the conversation going and some of that early work ultimately led the county to advance plans for a permanent supportive housing site and navigation center in the area.

Bignall and Johnson met around this time and though the two brought different approaches to the issue, Bignall said, they felt a calling to address the community’s and homeless individuals’ needs.

It was a heavy lift and they encountered significant pushback as they sought a site for the service center — and also sought to change the community’s attitude toward homelessness, mental health and substance use issues.

“Debra was the target of a lot of criticism and real hatred but she soldiered on and she demonstrated a commitment to solutions while ignoring the noise and that was a really admirable quality that I just admired and learned from her,” Bignall said.

Johnson’s pursuit was relentless — her tenacious attitude captured in the moniker given to her by the Russian River Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence when, in 2016, she was sainted as St. Don’t Backdown.

And her efforts were ultimately successful with the opening earlier this summer of George’s Place, featuring 21 permanent supportive housing units and a navigation center at the former George’s Hideaway inn and bar on Highway 116.

Flashing a wide smile and holding two thumbs up, Johnson’s joy of seeing this decades-long effort come to fruition was captured in a photo taken sometime in June or July in front of the new services center.

Bignall said Johnson had quietly dealt with several bouts of cancer over the past 10 years.

She found out about Johnson’s latest diagnosis after she and her wife had Johnson and Kanner over for a barbeque in early August. She visited Johnson at home later that month after she underwent a round of treatment and Johnson reported feeling upbeat and optimistic. But her health quickly declined after that.

“She had a warrior spirit but the body just gave out,” Bignall said.

Johnson’s death came as a shock to many.

“We were totally heartbroken and at a loss,” said Jackson, Johnson’s longtime friend and collaborator. She is taking solace in the memory of their last meeting just a few weeks ago. Johnson was showing Jackson and her partner a house and the three joked about aging and needing cataract surgery.

“I got to hug her and was so happy to see her and laugh together again,” she said.

Plans for a public memorial to honor Johnson’s life and contribution to the lower Russian River are underway, Hopkins and Bignall said. More details will be available soon.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or [email protected].