Victoire "Vicky" Toof Johnson

Victoire “Vicky” Toof Johnson, age 88, passed peacefully at Benefis Hospital in Great Falls, MT, on Thursday, October 9, 2020, from natural causes unrelated to COVID-19. Vicky was born to Yvonne and Frederick Toof and grew up in Highland Park, IL.She graduated from Bartram School for girls in Jacksonville, FL, and received her Bachelor’s Degree in French from Sweet Briar Women’s College in Sweet Briar, VA.Vicky taught French at Kemper Hall in Kenosha, WI and obtained her Master’s Degree in French from Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT.Vicky studied for her master’s degree at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France where she lived for several years, guaranteeing her life-long love of France and its culture.After earning her master’s degree, Vicky worked at the Citroën Automobile Company in France as an interpreter and translator, and as an English instructor for its employees. Vicky brought her love of France to Great Falls, MT, where she continued her career in education, teaching four levels of French at Great Falls High School.In 1965 she moved across town, joining the first faculty of CMR High School.That year, Vicky married Charles Pierce and they later welcomed the birth of their son, Drew.During her 37 years in the Great Falls School District, Vicky was an alumnae representative for Sweet Briar College, a secretary of the Montana Association of Foreign Language Teachers, and a faculty representative at CMR. Vicky loved being a French teacher. She was often heard to say that teaching French was so rewarding, because watching her students grow was “like seeing the bud of a flower forming in first-year French and the blossom opening in fourth-year French.”She was a long-time French Club sponsor, and one of her passions was coordinating “Intercultural Student Experience,” the first CMR High School - France student exchange program.She delighted in leading students, including her son, and members of his high-school French class, through the chateaux, museums and cathedrals they had studied in class.Vicky passed on her love of French to thousands of students during her career, and it was one of her greatest joys that more than one went on to become French teachers themselves. Vicky married Jerry Johnson in 1979, and they enjoyed 34 years together.She loved boating, swimming, and vacationing with Jerry at Holter Lake, Swan Lake and Flathead Lake in Montana. She shared many cherished trips with him to Canada and around the West.Of course, her favorites were their trips to France.Jerry drove the French rental car, Vicky called out directions, and they made just a few wrong turns between Paris and Bordeaux, the Mediterranean and the Alps. Vicky was a Red Cross Language Bank volunteer, and she chaired the nursery at her church.She loved to listen to Montana Public Radio, and she was known to keep a radio playing in each room so she would not miss a program.Vicky was a dedicated and passionate follower of Democratic politics, and she loved talking with everyone she met about the news of the day. Vicky was an avid reader throughout her life.She also loved to tell stories about her life, and she even did a bit of writing after her retirement.She was thrilled when her short story “The Wall,” about her own French teacher, a French nun “with warm, dark eyes and a little mustache that trembled when she spoke” was read on National Public Radio and published in a National Story Project book. Vicky asked that she be remembered by the Emily Dickinson poem “If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking” If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain, If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. Vicky was preceded in death by her mother and father and husband Jerry.She is survived by her son and a brother in Chicago, IL, who will cherish her memory and stories of her life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Montana Environmental Information Center, the Montana Human Rights Network, or the Humane Society of Cascade County, all causes that were dear to her heart.