Memorial services for Johnnie Nell McRae Liliedahl, 64, of La Porte, Texas, will be held at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville, LA, with Rev. James Glass officiating. Burial will follow in the Self Cemetery under the direction of Labby Memorial Funeral Home of Leesville. Friends may visit on Tuesday, Oct.
27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Wednesday, Oct. 28 from 8 a.m. until the time of the service at the funeral home.
Mrs. Liliedahl passed away Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 at a hospice hospital in Houston, Texas, near her home in La Porte,
Texas after a long struggle with uterine and endometrial cancer.
A resident of La Porte, Texas for the past ten years, and Baton Rouge, and Tulsa, Johnnie was born in Leesville, on Oct. 13, 1945, and is the daughter of John Wesley and
Nellie V. McRae, of Leesville.
Johnnie is survived by her husband of 25 years, Ralph A. Liliedahl, Jr., originally from Leesville, but now residing in La Porte, Texas; one son, Douglas Brandon Mason and his wife Melissa of Denver,
Colo..; two daughters: Jennifer Jennen and husband Mike of Wichita, Kan.; and Lynn Moran of La Porte, Texas.; one brother, Morris Jean McRae and his wife Jackie of Leesville, and seven grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her
father, John Wesley McRae, her mother Nellie V. McRae, both from Leesville, and her brother Duane McRae of Baton Rouge.
After studying at L.S.U. and then obtaining her BA degree in Economics at Tulsa University in Tulsa, Okla. Johnnie
taught Economics at Tulsa University. While there, she became involved in oil painting and eventually developed her artistic talents to the point of becoming a professional artist, owning and operating a commercial art studio for many years in
Sapulpa, Okla., near Tulsa, called “The Mason Jar.”
In 1985 she married Ralph Liliedahl and together they opened Liliedahl Fine Art Studio & Liliedahl Video Productions in La Porte, Texas. in 1999. Her paintings have been exhibited
in national art shows, where she won several awards. In addition, she taught oil painting in her “School of Classical Oil Painting, ” in her commercial studio located in La Porte, Texas, which had gained enough national recognition to be featured in
an article in “The American Artist” magazine, then reprinted in a recent “Best of” article, published again by a national publication, The American Artist magazine.
She and her husband Ralph also filmed, edited, and marketed art
instruction videos that featured not only Johnnie demonstrating her oil painting techniques, but also for some of the best known artists in the United States.
Johnnie was a nationally recognized artist, loved by many, and will be
sorely missed not only by her family, but by those in art community, as she has touched many, many lives during her lengthy career of painting and teaching art.
Words of comfort may be expressed to the Liliedahl family at www.labbymemorial.com.