Remembering my father isn't difficult; he passed on in a Veterans hospital in Missouri. I wasn't there, too young(13) I guess. He suffered from bone cancer, which metastisized to his lungs. Figuring out the why's and trying to honor his memory is difficult. He ran away from home at 14,joined the Navy.Somehow, later he ended up in Chicago, where he met singer Curtis Mayfied, they both enjoyed singing and were good at it! Later he met my mother and fathered my sister and me. My father lived his life, (at least the part of it that I remember)suffering some sort of depression, plagued with alcohol and whatever demons nestled within his spirit, it was not easy. His voice is what I relate too the most,because it is a less painful memory. He sang with unbridled passion, a flow that seemed to resonance through heavens door! He was a good man, with a lost capability of being a great one! He was a father of lost understanding. I do miss my dad now as I missed him my whole life. May heaven or wherever he really wanted to rest hold him and keep him safe! He left behind 4 daughters and a son; Debra Johnson Lewis(deceased)Elizabeth Johnson Haley, Lela Johnson, Jeanette and William Johnson, 15 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Sisters: Dora Beard and Flora Tucker and a brother Howard(wife Ethel) Swanigan. A sister Rosa Wade proceeded him in death.
Remembering my father isn't difficult; he passed on in a Veterans hospital in Missouri. I wasn't there, too young(13) I guess. He suffered from bone cancer, which metastisized to his lungs. Figuring out the why's and trying to honor his memory is difficult. He ran away from home at 14,joined the Navy.Somehow, later he ended up in Chicago, where he met singer Curtis Mayfied, they both enjoyed singing and were good at it! Later he met my mother and fathered my sister and me. My father lived his life, (at least the part of it that I remember)suffering some sort of depression, plagued with alcohol and whatever demons nestled within his spirit, it was not easy. His voice is what I relate too the most,because it is a less painful memory. He sang with unbridled passion, a flow that seemed to resonance through heavens door! He was a good man, with a lost capability of being a great one! He was a father of lost understanding. I do miss my dad now as I missed him my whole life. May heaven or wherever he really wanted to rest hold him and keep him safe! He left behind 4 daughters and a son; Debra Johnson Lewis(deceased)Elizabeth Johnson Haley, Lela Johnson, Jeanette and William Johnson, 15 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Sisters: Dora Beard and Flora Tucker and a brother Howard(wife Ethel) Swanigan. A sister Rosa Wade proceeded him in death.
