“Kent County is home to me. I was raised here. My family’s roots are here. Both my mother and father are from here. My father grew up in the Quaker Neck area, and my mother is from Georgetown. We lived in Johnson Town Road, which is on Quaker Neck on the way to Cliff City. There were a lot more children in the community. We always played outside. We used our minds, our imagination. And summer times were fun. We were always either riding our bikes to the water, going swimming, hiking through the woods. We were creative. We had fun. Everyone looked out for each other. You don’t get that sense of community as much as when we were growing up, which is sorely missed. We won’t recapture that, but I’m glad for the memories. I grew up here, graduated from Kent High School, made a vow I was never coming back to Chestertown ever. But somehow ten years later, by divine intervention, I came home. And when I came back, I became involved in my church. Well, I was always active in church — that was the tradition — but when I came back, I began pursuing the ministry, and I’m actually pastoring now.”
Nina Johnson was interviewed and photographed by Ronnie Edelman.
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