03/02/2023
**Visitation & Service details provided in the link below** Our beloved Sharon Dionne Henderson Johnson, affectionately known as Dionne, born on June 25th,1970 in Forrest City, Arkansas, to the union of Acie and Erma Jean Henderson. Dionne was a bright and enthusiastic learner as a kid, who excelled in creative arts and writing. She attended Forrest City public school and graduated from Forrest City High School. At Kindergarten age Dionne embraced her Christian faith and joined Madison Light Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor R.B. Bland. Dionne learned to read from the Bible at a very young age. Her first Bible verse was “God is love”, and that's basically the principle she practiced throughout her life. Dionne knew God. She praised Him and loved Him deeply.
Dionne became a mother at a young age and fully embraced her role as a parent for Cameron, Germaine and Jeremy. She absolutely adored her boys and would never miss an opportunity to brag about them and say how proud she was of them.
In addition to being a young mother she continued her undergraduate education. Early in her professional career she demonstrated leadership skills that allowed her to function in various roles, including manager at McDonald's and launching and operating her own production studio in Forrest City. Dionne had many talents. After relocating to the Los Angeles area in 20xx she used her skills to excel in her role as a campaign fund-raising manager for SD&A. Dionne had a passion for politics. She worked to get President Obama elected in 2012, and to support Hillary Clinton during the elections in 2016. EMILY's list and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also played a huge part in her career. Besides that, Dionne spent the last decade working with and for organizations that stand up for change and better living conditions. She worked closely with organizations like the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Doctors Without Borders, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Monterey Bay. She also had the opportunity to work with environmental organizations like Sierra Club and Greenpeace.
Dionne believed strongly in fighting injustice, inequality, homelessness and poverty and therefore started her podcast “I'm Just Sayin'” in 2019. Dionne was on a mission to spread her love around the world. Music and showcasing new talent, bringing people together, she enjoyed it all so much. Later on she added the show “Can You Handle The Trouble”, which was inspired by the late great John Lewis, to address social change. Dionne was fearless in speaking her mind. She said what she meant, and meant what she said! Her passion lead to creating over 300 shows and she had thousands of followers who stood behind her movement and supported her in everything she did. As she would always say: “knowledge is power, but love is everything!” Her platform lead to her most recent accomplishment as she was named as the Goodwill Ambassador of the United States for the World Fashion Exhibition, which allowed her to connect, interview and promote creatives all around the world. Her love touched many hearts and will continue to inspire many people around the world to make our planet a better place.
In 2010 Dionne joined in Union with Yvette Johnson. Together Dionne and Yvette enjoyed hosting many family gatherings, birthday celebrations and holidays where she was able to love on her family and friends. Dionne loved love. She loved to laugh. She always made people laugh and loved to crack jokes. Bringing laughter to family gatherings was her favorite thing to do, she was the life of the party!
Becoming a grandmother brought a whole new dimension to Dionne's life. It brought her so much joy, she would light up every time she talked about her grandbabies and always looked forward to spending time with them in the summer and have her family come out to visit.
She loved the beach, going on family trips, going new places and trying new restaurants and foods. Everyone looked forward to her excellent cooking. She was famous for her delicious peach cobbler, barbecuing, grilling, soul food Sunday's, and let's not forget her love for a good old-fashioned hamburger!
Dionne loved to celebrate and never let an occasion to celebrate go to waste. Spoiling people was her thing, she was super thoughtful and considerate of others.
Dionne was in her element with some champagne with blueberries in her hand while listening to some old school music. On top of that, Dionne was also an avid movie buff, word for word! And her romantic heart loved writing poetry. She was also a huge lover of celebrating Christmas. The decorating, the Christmas movies, she loved it all. Another passion of hers would be fashion, she loved “coordinating” her outfits. And let's not forget she always owned a stylish clean car! Dionne always quoted Maya Angelou's saying that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. And that's what she did: she always made people feel a certain way. To know Dionne meant to love Dionne!
Dionne was preceded in death by her father Acie Henderson, sister Machelle Matthews-Allen, and brother Clinton Franklin. She leaves to cherish loving memories to her mother Erma Jean Henderson, her spouse Yvette Johnson, her sons Cameron (Kiesha) Henderson, Germaine (Cajavia) Washington, Jeremy Washington, and bonus daughter, Aisha. Her brothers, Gerald (Coretta) Matthews, Shawn Henderson, Kevin Henderson and Travis Smith. Two sisters, Kimberly (Victor) Britt and Sheronda Smith. Four grandchildren, Jaylin Bourn, Karter Washington, Noah Washington, and Mirasia Henderson. Host of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws and many many friends. And her special niece Perkia (Decar) Allen.
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