Carrie Alice Coonrod, formerly Johnston, age 83, died on September 11, 2006, in Yuba City, California. She was born January 2, 1923 in Garland, and raised on a farm in the Cherry Grove area.

She graduated from Fort Scott High School in 1940, and went on to complete a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education and obtained her teaching credential at Kansas State College, Pittsburg. During WWII she worked in the Boeing factory in Wichita on summer breaks.

In 1946, she married John Coonrod, of Cato, and they settled near Corcoran, California. There she taught school for several years and started a family. In 1957, they moved to Taft, California where she continued her teaching career for another 21 years.