Obituary: Jeffrie Johnson Story

Jeffrie Johnson Story, age 78, died on Oct. 23, 2025, at Bethesda North Hospital in greater Cincinnati, Ohio. She recently retired here after more than 40 years as a leading sales and marketing executive for telecommunication corporations, followed by a second career as an independent sales consultant.

Jeffrie was born Sept. 2, 1947, to George J. & Barbara (Cortner) Johnson, in the small town of Essex in southwest Iowa.

Her parents gave her the unusual first name, which she loved throughout her life. When giving speeches for large audiences, she often began, “I’m going to start by answering your questions: yes, no, and yes. Yes, my real name is Jeffrie. No, my parents weren’t expecting a boy. And yes, I get asked that a lot.” This unusual name for a woman – and especially in her era – was uniquely apt for one who ascended the ranks in the business world. She came to be lovingly called “La Única,” or “the one and only,” by her Spanish-speaking family.

Growing up, Jeffrie was involved in nearly all activities in the Essex schools, especially music, cheerleading and student government. Jeffrie was valedictorian of the Class of 1965. She also worked as a clerk and did inventory at the grocery store and meat locker that her grandparents, and then parents, owned and operated in Essex.

An honors graduate in 1969 of the University of Iowa, Jeffrie was fascinated by languages. Alongside her election to Phi Beta Kappa, she majored in Spanish and French and was inducted into mortar board society her junior year, which recognized her additional skills as a student leader.  

An active member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Jeffrie was also president of the Spanish Club, and her skills in Spanish helped many of her sorority sisters pass the University’s language requirements. She also played the bagpipe in the university’s famous Scottish Highlanders, a marching all-women’s pipe and drum corps.

In 1972, she began working for the Bell Telephone Company’s marketing departments across the Midwest and in the Southwest. In 1997, she formed her own consulting company and broadened her services to include sales management training with business clients across the nation. She also authored a book, “Straight to Great: The Sales Manager’s Field Guide.”

After teaching high school Spanish for a year in Omaha, Jeffrie moved to Des Moines and – proving that a liberal arts education prepared her well – became a successful woman in sales and management at Northwestern Bell. There, she served as a role model to other women pursuing careers in business. She was an early member of Consortium, a women’s business breakfast club formed in 1978, and she co-created the inaugural calendar for the YWCA that featured successful women and their accomplishments in the community.

In Omaha and Phoenix, she worked for US West, which became Qwest, and then took early retirement to form her own consultancy. Jeffrie especially enjoyed working with managers and salespeople to understand how to overcome personal and structural challenges to improve sales results. She was always a performer for her business associates as much as her friends, and she honed these skills in Toastmasters International and other clubs and organizations. Ever the linguist and devotee of meticulous grammar, Jeffrie joined several French and Spanish language groups in Arizona and later in Ohio.

After living in Scottsdale, Arizona, for more than thirty years, she moved to Oxford, Ohio, where her son Andrew, an Associate Professor of History at Miami University, lives with his wife María and their daughters Lindsay, Casey and Audrey. She moved into their neighborhood in 2022, at their invitation, and Jeffrie (Nana) became a daily presence in their lives. Nana’s home became a favorite stop for after-school snacks, slumber parties and holiday celebrations. 

While in Oxford, Jeffrie turned her full attention to enjoying life three blocks from her son’s family, participating in local clubs and making new friends. She did this as she navigated the normal challenges of aging, always maintaining her characteristic flair and good style. Over the last two years, Jeffrie managed to share with her French study group an impressive number of stories about her life, “écrit en français, bien sûr,” while she loved to speak “en español” with her “nuera” María, from Argentina. In her final days of life, she could be heard whispering to herself in both languages. She was “La Única” to the end.

She is survived by her daughter Janae Jaynes, of Omaha, Nebraska, and grandson Connor Jaynes, of Denver, Colorado; son Andrew Offenburger, his wife María and their daughters Lindsay, Casey and Audrey, of Oxford; her sister Jill Caruso and her husband Gary Caruso, of Phoenix, Arizona, and Jill’s daughters Kenna Ose, of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Meredith Ose, of Richmond, Virginia, as well as many friends in Ohio, Iowa, across the U.S. and beyond. Jeffrie was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents and several other relatives whom she held dear in her extended family. 

There are no plans for a funeral service, but her family will be holding a celebration of her life, in Oxford, at a future date.

For friends who wish to memorialize her now, please consider Flying Horse Farms, a medical specialty camp for children that Jeffrie supported, located at 5260 State Route 95, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, 43338.

This obituary was originally published by The Oxford Free Press.