Completing a life full of love and adventure, Ethel Maria Vernon joined the ancestors on March 1, 2024. Ethel was 92 years old. We say farewell to a remarkable woman, devoted mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, cousin and friend to many. Her final days were spent in Williamsburg, Virginia, a community she chose for her retirement after relocating there in 2003. Throughout her life, Ethel had many jobs: a bank teller for Chase Manhattan Bank, a tour guide at Jamestown Settlement and an administrator at New York Telephone Company for more than 30 years. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Ethel was born on October 29, 1931 to Edward and Dora Johnson, one of nine children the couple had. Ethel attended Cleveland Public Schools and graduated from John Hay High School. At 18, she moved to New York City in the early 1950s, where she met her husband Leo. Ethel earned an associate's degree in applied science from Borough Manhattan Community College. She served as a volunteer for the David Dinkins mayoral campaign and traveled extensively around the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. Ethel is predeceased by her husband Leo Muncho Vernon and their son Mario Nicholas Vernon. She is survived by her children, Inocencia Brown of New York; Carlos Vernon and wife Gladys of Teaneck, New Jersey ; Lisa Vernon-Sparks of Charlotte, North Carolina and Donald E. Sparks of Leonia, New Jersey; Virgil Vernon and wife Christine of Baldwin; June Vernon of California; sister Vera Coe of Cleveland, Ohio; Grandchildren: Kena Johnson and husband Matt; Monique Hope of Teaneck; Christopher Brown of Buffalo; Yamma Brown of New York and Collin Brown of New York and Donald Sparks, III of New Jersey. Great-grandchildren: Kayla Hope and Elijah Hope and scores of nieces, nephews, cousins and relatives from her native Cleveland and many friends around the country.
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