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Tiffany Johnson was known for her smile

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 10, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.

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Tiffany Johnson fell in love with children as she traveled the world learning to be an evangelical Christian missionary.

While in Arvada, she called her home in Chisholm, in northern Minnesota, nearly every day to tell her father about her latest adventures.

Her parents were still in shock Sunday as they tried to sort out how a girl with so much promise could have been killed so senselessly. They managed to gather these thoughts about her:

"Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old. She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader, and wanted to see the world," they wrote in a statement read by a friend, Carla Macynski.

Known for her infectious smile, the blond ball of energy got involved with Youth With a Mission about two years ago through her Assemblies of God church in Minnesota.

Like Dan Griebenow, who was severely injured in the shooting, her introduction to Colorado came during a 20-week Boarders' Discipleship Training School at the Youth With a Mission center in Arvada. Her missionary training then took her to Egypt, Libya and South Africa.

She became a full-time staff member at the Arvada center last spring, heading up the hospitality department. She and Griebenow began dating about six months ago.

News that she had been killed traveled quickly across northern Minnesota Sunday morning.

"It's been a very very difficult day" for her parents, said Macynski. "The phone has been ringing off the hook, and they've been talking to family and friends."

Johnson loved her work and wrote home often.

"She believed strongly in reaching out to people through worship and fellowship," the family wrote. "She especially loved working with children, and she will be sorely missed by those she touched through her gift of giving and her caring and speaking the word of God.

"The Johnson family asks at this time for your prayers, for the victims and their families, and to thank everyone for their kind words and support."

Macynski, who had known Johnson since she was a child, said she was "a religious woman of God and she devoted her life to speaking the word of God."

"She loved people in general and she tried to do what she could for anybody and everybody she met," Macynski said. "Never had a bad word. Always a good word.

"She was always upbeat and smiling."

Comments

  • December 10, 2007

    10:59 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    schwarzengel writes:

    I'm not a religious person, but seeing Tiffany's picture on the news, you could tell a lot by her smile. You could see how much of a good person she was by that picture. My thoughts to Tiffany's family and friends! She is with her God now!

  • December 11, 2007

    6:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    taddyschmitt writes:

    Tiff... we will miss you...