Eugenia Johnson

Eugenia Johnson was born on May 18, 1952 in Brooklyn, NY to the late Dr. Armand and Emily Aversa Patella. She was a resident of Florida for forty years, residing in Miami and Melbourne. She relocated to West Chester, PA in January of 2025 to be closer to family.

Eugenia was a proud alumna of Fontbonne Hall Academy (1969), Brooklyn, NY and Hunter College , Phi Beta Kappa, (1972) Manhattan, NY, where she was involved in theater production, interning with Joseph Papp’s “Shakespeare in the Park” in the early seventies. In later years, she revitalized those skills and volunteered at The Melbourne Civic Theater.

She owned and operated The Boatyard Cafe & Marina in Mastic ,NY. In addition to being a world class chef, she was an avid sailor : she and her first husband sailed their sailboat “Sleeper” along the East Coast for eighteen months. She loved skiing as well as boating.

Genie moved to Florida in 1996 to be closer to her sister Laura and worked as an IRS auditor,(an “auditor with heart” to be sure), until her retirement in 2015. Her retirement years were spent rescuing a retired racing greyhound, Hunter, and miniature poodle, Charlie. As a resident of Melbourne Village, she was an active member of the American Homesteading Foundation, its managing organization and involved in their many clubs and committees.

Having no children of her own, she was an adoring aunt (DeeDee) to her sister’s and brother’s offspring; Elizabeth’s Kathryne Laura Buckley, Armand John, and Eugene Louis Holst; Laura’s Elizabeth Ann Richardson and Laura Marcella Decker, Emily Jr.’s Thomas, Emilia Kleinman, Nicholas, Raymond , Armand and John Siolek, Armand’s Armand Major III and Kit Patella. This group presented her with her equally adored “grands”; Oliver Holst, Jack, McKenzie, and Kelsey Richardson, Luke and Emily Decker, Sofia, Laci, Aubrey and Emilia Frances Siolek , Elizabeth and Marcella Kleinman, and Armand’s Armand Major IV. She shared her last Christmas Eve with many of the above family members.

Eugenia is survived by her sister, Emily Siolek (Thomas) of West Chester, PA, and her brother, Armand M. Patella, Jr. (JeanneMarie) of Towson, MD. She is predeceased by her husband, Vance Johnson and her sisters, Elizabeth Holst and Laura Fiore Johnson.

Family and friends are invited to attend Eugenia’s viewing on Saturday, January 24, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by a Funeral Mass at St. Agnes Church, 233 West Gay Street, West Chester, PA 19380. Interment will follow at St. Agnes Cemetery.

Contributions in Eugenia’s name can be made to The Salvation Army, West Chester Corps, 101 East Market Street, West Chester, PA, 19382.