Former congresswoman began Monday lying in state at the Hall of State in Dallas’s Fair Park.
Three days of services and events honoring the life of longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson began Monday with her lying in state at the Hall of State in Dallas's Fair Park and will end with a wake in Southern Dallas.
President Joe Biden traveled to Dallas on Monday to attend Johnson's wake. The president hailed her "immense courage" and called her "an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, through whom her legacy of resilience and purpose will endure."
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Funeral procession carrying the casket of former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives at the Hall of State in Fair Park to lie in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Pallbearers carry the casket carrying former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives at the Hall of State in Fair Park to lie in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Pallbearers carry the casket carrying former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives at the Hall of State in Fair Park to lie in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Pallbearers carry the casket carrying former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives at the Hall of State in Fair Park to lie in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Pallbearers carry the casket carrying former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives at the Hall of State in Fair Park to lie in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners arrive to pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Kirk Johnson (center, right), and his wife, Sondra Johnson, cq, (center), arrive at the Hall of State in Fair Park at the Hall of State in Fair Park while former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Kirk Johnson (right), and his wife, Sondra Johnson, cq, (center) pause at the casket of of his mother, former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as she lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Kirk Johnson (facing at right), the son of former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, is consoled after visiting the Hall of State in Fair Park where his mother was lying in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners signatures are seen in a guest book at the Hall of State in Fair Park where former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson arrives was lying in state on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
From left, Arthur Busby, Murat Gokcigdem, and Damarcus Offord pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Busby worked on Johnsons security detail for decades, Gokcigdem is her former Chief of Staff, and Offord was her Director of Outreach. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
From left, Arthur Busby, Murat Gokcigdem, and Damarcus Offord pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Busby worked on Johnsons security detail for decades. Gokcigdem is her former Chief of Staff, and Offord was her Director of Outreach. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University, pays his respects to former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, as she lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas.
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett pays her respects to her predecessor, former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, as she lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas.
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Mourners pay their respects as former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson lies in state at the Hall of State at Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Richard Irvin Lee, of Waco, Texas, grieves at the casket of former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as she lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Smiley Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Richard Irvin Lee, of Waco, Texas, pauses at the casket of former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as she lies in state at the Hall of State in Fair Park on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Dallas. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Smiley Pool/ The Dallas Morning News /POOL PHOTO)
Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse who helped bring hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area as the region's most powerful Democrat, was a trailblazer. Johnson was the first nurse to be elected not only to Congress but also to the Texas House in 1972 and Texas Senate in 1986.
Johnson served in the U.S. House for three decades after becoming the first registered nurse elected to Congress and the first Black chief psychiatric nurse at Dallas' Veterans Affairs hospital. She went on to become the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and she also led the Congressional Black Caucus. She left office in January after repeatedly delaying her retirement. Before Congress, she served in the Texas legislature.
The family of the former Dallas Congresswoman is negotiating with Baylor Scott & White over alleged medical neglect that the family claims caused her death.
Eddie Bernice Johnson spoke at the January 27, 2022 dedication of a University of North Texas at Dallas satellite office across from the VA Medical Center in Dallas where she was once a nurse.
