Clara Estella Roberta Johnson — Daughter, Evangelist, Kin of a Comedy Legend

Basic Information

Family & Origins — the cast and the backstory

When I look at a family like this, it reads like a small-cast movie: one big, bright comic star in the family, and a quieter, faith-forward figure who chose a different stage. Clara Estella Roberta Johnson was born Clara Estella Roberta Peal on 24 March 1937, arriving into the Peal household — a house that would later be bracketed in popular memory by her mother’s public persona. Her mother, known to the world as LaWanda Page, would become famous for a booming, unforgettable presence on television; Clara, by contrast, stepped into pulpit light rather than studio glare.

Here’s the family lineup as it stands in the records I’ve worked from:

I tell you this like I’m arranging family portraits on a mantel — each photograph tilted to catch different light. There’s the flashbulb of celebrity; there’s the softer halo of religious calling; and between them, private lives that rarely made the tabloid pages.

Growing up and the private life behind a famous name

I find it impossible not to narrate Clara’s life against the backdrop of her mother’s public image. LaWanda Page — the name that would ring in sitcom reruns — cast a long shadow, and yet Clara’s story is not an echo. Born in 1937 and living until 2006, Clara’s life spanned 69 years, a span that contained the mid-century churn of Los Angeles and the slow, intimate work of church life and evangelism.

Numbers tell a pared-down biography: born 1937, married (per records) 1970, deceased 2006. Those dates are bookends and keyframes; the camera between them focuses on a woman who in public references is described as an evangelist — someone who shifted toward religious teaching and community work rather than pursuing the entertainment career tracks that circled her family like spotlights.

Career and public role — preaching where the mic is smaller but the message is loud

Call it humble stagecraft. Clara used the language of faith — sermons, testimony, the evangelist’s cadence — rather than roast lines or sitcom timing. The phrase “evangelist” appears consistently when Clara’s public identity is noted, which suggests her primary public-facing role was church-centered ministry, preaching, or evangelistic outreach. It’s a different kind of performance: no laugh track, no scripted punchline, but still an audience and a demand for presence.

Unlike her mother’s career, Clara’s public footprint was smaller; she doesn’t appear in the same glossy retrospectives, and her name is mostly encountered in family notices, memorial records, and references that position her as next of kin to a well-known performer. Yet small footprints can be deep — a gospel talk that changes a life, a congregation that remembers the pastor who showed up in a crisis — and that’s the kind of legacy suggested by the word “evangelist.”

Marriage, records, and the curious absence of certain details

Records that list an Edward Johnson as Clara’s spouse (with a marriage date of 24 March 1970) explain why she is later known by the Johnson surname; those same records, however, are quiet on some questions readers naturally ask: did she have children? Where exactly did she minister? What did she do between 1937 and 1970, in the decades shaped by postwar Los Angeles?

The answer — and it’s an honest one — is that public documentation is patchy. Some details are clear and neat; others remain private, held in the hands of family memos, church pews, and conversations that didn’t make the newspapers. I like to think of it as film negative: the outlines are visible, but you need a lightbox to see texture.

Public mentions, memory, and why we tell this story

Clara’s name circulates most often in family contexts: memorials, genealogical records, and notes that identify her as LaWanda Page’s daughter and an evangelist in her own right. No splashy headline celebrates her life the way screens celebrated her mother’s comedic turns, but the cumulative effect of those small references is a portrait — not of celebrity, but of kinship and vocation.

If biographies are mosaics, Clara’s is a compact one: a few large tiles (1937, 1970, 2006) surrounded by a constellation of smaller tiles (evangelist, daughter, wife) that together form an arresting little picture. It’s a reminder that public fame is not the only measure of a life worth recording — sometimes the quieter arcs are the ones that hold the richest human detail.

FAQ

Who was Clara Estella Roberta Johnson?

Clara Estella Roberta Johnson was born Clara Estella Roberta Peal on 24 March 1937 and is most publicly known as the daughter of actress LaWanda Page and as an evangelist.

What were the major dates in her life?

Key dates recorded are birth on 24 March 1937, a recorded marriage on 24 March 1970, and her death on 4 June 2006.

Who were her immediate family members?

Her mother was LaWanda Page (Alberta Peal), her father is listed as John Peal, an infant brother died in 1935, and a spouse named Edward Johnson is listed in marriage records.

What was her profession?

Public descriptions identify her primarily as an evangelist—someone engaged in religious teaching and ministry rather than mainstream entertainment.

Did she have children?

Public family records do not clearly document surviving children, and definitive public confirmation is not available.

What about her net worth?

There are no reliable public records documenting Clara’s net worth.

Why is she remembered today?

She’s remembered mainly in family and memorial contexts as a member of the Peal/Page family and for her role in religious life, standing beside a mother who became a household name in comedy.