She studied voice and operatic repertoire in New York with Ernst Knoth and Sidney Dietch.
In 1941, she sang Dorabella in Così fan tutte, opening the Tanglewood opera house at Lenox, Massachusetts.
Other roles followed for her, with the New Opera Company of New York under Emil Cooper, at San Francisco Opera and elsewhere, in Macbeth, The Fair at Sorochyntsi, The Queen of Spades, Cavalleria rusticana, Carmen, La forza del destino, The Girl of the Golden West, the title role in Roberta, Azucena in Il trovatore and Maddalena in Rigoletto.
[5] After Carousel closed, Johnson moved back to Owensboro, where she married surgeon Robert Smith in 1950 and raised two daughters, Robin and Nancy.
Johnson's husband died in 1959, and she later worked for Texas Gas Transmission Corporation until her retirement.