Navy veteran, 3:16 Magazine writer, and community pillar passed December 23rd, leaving legacy of service and love
Beatrice Janise Johnson—known as “Nisey” to her family, “BJ” to her Navy brothers and sisters, and simply as a woman who made everyone around her better—passed away on December 23rd. Her death leaves a void in the hearts of her family, her military community, and the many lives she touched through decades of selfless service.
But while BJ may be gone, her legacy lives on through the barriers she broke, the women veterans she mentored, the elderly patients she cared for, the children she fostered, the stories she wrote, and the countless people who knew her as someone who would give her last to create joy for someone else.
Throughout her Navy career and long after, BJ exemplified integrity and leadership. After her military service, she continued supporting her fellow veterans as Chief Financial Officer of S.H.E. 4 Women Veteran Inc., an organization dedicated to serving women who served.
After retiring from the Navy, BJ transitioned into another form of service: caring for the elderly as a home healthcare nurse. For more than fifteen years, she dedicated herself to caring for her mother, Donna, and her beloved Aunt Esther, providing the dignity, comfort, and love they deserved in their later years.
This wasn’t just a job for BJ—it was a calling. The same dedication she brought to military service, she brought to caregiving. The same excellence she demonstrated aboard the USS Barry, she demonstrated in ensuring her mother and aunt received compassionate, attentive care.
Fifteen years of daily caregiving requires patience, strength, and an enormous heart. BJ had all three.
BJ was also a creative and talented freelance writer for 3:16 Magazine, where she used her gift for storytelling to reshape her community and share uplifting stories about her peers. Her articles reflected her belief that everyone has a story worth telling and that amplifying community voices matters.
As a writer for this magazine, BJ understood that independent community journalism serves a vital purpose: it tells the stories that mainstream media overlooks, celebrates the people doing good work without recognition, and provides a platform for voices that deserve to be heard.
Her contributions to 3:16 Magazine were more than assignments—they were acts of service, using words to build up her community and honor the people working to make it better.
Her favorite quote, from Eleanor Roosevelt, captured her approach to life and conversation: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” BJ was, unquestionably, a great mind—someone who focused on ideas, possibilities, and how to make things better rather than tearing others down.
Her passing on December 23rd marks the end of a life well-lived, but not the end of her impact. BJ’s legacy continues through the many lives she touched. And for those who knew her, loved her, and were made better by her presence, the task now is to live in a way that honors what she gave to the world: service, courage, generosity, joy, and love without limit.
Rest in peace, BJ. Your Navy family salutes you. Your community thanks you. Your family loves you. And your legacy—like the Covington DNA you carried so proudly—lives on.
