Daughter of Bernadine Murray Johnson and McKinley Johnson of Douglas, GA. Growing up in Douglas, she graduated from Coffee County High School where she played on the girls' basketball team, and earned a two-year degree from South Georgia College. She was a trained singer and member of her church choir. During WWII, Douglas had a training station for for the U.S. Army Air Corps where Wilmer (Bill) Johnson Keeney of Dearborn, MI was studying to be a pilot. It was said that the good-looking girls were at First Baptist Church so he decided to attend. He saw Elinor singing in the choir and talked to her after service. Since she had two brothers in the military, she invited him to lunch with her family that day. That afternoon she jokingly asked him to marry her, as it was a leap year. They dated and eventually married on June 23, 1946. They moved to Michigan where he finished his degree at Michigan State, and she worked in the registrar's office. Bill graduated in December 1950 and they moved to Fitzgerald, GA, where he worked for Life Insurance Co. of GA. In 1956 Bill was transferred to Shreveport, LA. The family were members of Broadmoor Baptist Church; she sang in the choir and taught in Sunday school and training union. She worked as a secretary at State Farm and later became one of the first women claims adjusters in the mid-1970's. After their daughters were grown, she requested a transfer from State Farm to the Atlanta area to be closer to her daughter, Wanda. They lived in Stone Mt. for 11 years, were active members of Indian Creek Baptist Church where she taught English as a Second Language classes for recent immigrants and sang in the choir. Surviving are her daughters, Wanda Sue From and husband, Ed, and Georgia Lynn (surname not given) of Duluth, MN; and granddaughter, Oksana.