Carl David Johnson

Carl David Johnson was born October 3, 1926, to Ruben and Ethel Johnson, the second of three children. Carl and his older sister Mary Lou and younger brother William grew up during the Great Depression. He often told stories of the hardship of his childhood. At the age of 18, Carl enlisted in the Navy and became a Navy Corpsman, an experience which prepared him for a lifetime of hard work and dedication to his profession. Upon completion of his naval service, Carl took advantage of the GI bill to attend Michigan State University and graduated with a degree in landscape architecture and urban planning. While in college Carl married Miss Janet Ann Smith, the beautiful young woman who was to become the supportive force behind his many successes. Carl began his career in Dallas,TX at Lambert Landscape Company in 1951 as a landscape architect and continued at Eichstaedt & Associates in Detroit. Carl’s brother, Bill, joined him in the profession of landscape architecture and in 1961 the two founded the firm Johnson, Johnson & Roy (JJR) together with a mutual friend, Clarence Roy. Carl was a commensurate artist and landscape was his canvas. He enjoyed painting landscapes as a hobby, but creating landscapes was his passion. He preached sustainability and respect for God’s creation and was at the forefront of his field in designing landscapes that sought to further the special relationship between man and nature. His exceptional talent in design and illustration were surpassed only by his compelling and uncanny ability to communicate the contribution that landscape architects make to preserve and shape both the natural and built environments. Carl worked on countless projects throughout the U.S. and overseas. He was a key designer for the restoration of Louisville’s famous Cherokee Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, which had been ravaged by a tornado. He restored a special residential landscape of Jens Jensen and adapted it to public use at the Lighthouse Landing Park in Evanston, Illinois. For many years he directed the rehabilitation plan for the C.S. Mott estate. A seminal experience for Carl was his trip to South Africa to conduct demonstration field workshops on criteria and evaluation procedures for environmentally sensitive sites. He often spoke of this experience and how meeting the people affected by apartheid impacted his thinking. While on the trip he assigned great importance to meeting with the South African people and eating with them. He felt strongly that honoring the environment begins with honoring its native residents. Another great passion for Carl was teaching. Carl was appointed to a professorship at the University of Michigan in 1964, after serving as a visiting lecturer. Carl spent 30 years teaching the introductory site planning course required of all architecture students, lending his unique gifts as a teacher and a landscape architect to over one thousand students. Carl spoke of his students with fondness and affection, and served as guest lecturer at more than twenty architecture and landscape architecture schools. In 1989, Carl was named professor emeritus of landscape architecture at University of Michigan. As a fellow with the American Society of Landscape Architects, Carl served as Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation in its early years, thereby helping to bring up a new generation of thoughtful, impassioned landscape architects. Carl viewed his profession as a vital component in creating a liveable, sustainable environment and sought to share this vision with others. This led to JJR dedicating a fund for research on its 25th anniversary, a fund which is now the largest of its kind within the LAF. In 2000, Carl was awarded the highest honor of his profession, the ASLA Gold Medal for his exceptional contributions to the field. Upon his retirement from active practice at JJR in 1989, Carl moved to Rio Verde, AZ, and launched an entirely new venture of volunteer projects and consulting. Carl worked on designs for several Christian organizations, and also worked on many college campus master plans, including Westmont College, Waynesburg University, and Judson University. Carl was awarded honorary doctorates from both Waynesburg and Judson for his inspirational work with their campus design. Carl was actively sought by both public and private clients for his expertise and vision. He took a special interest in the Mexican Mission in Northern Mexico, where his daughter Betsy and family serve. Carl was also active in landscape preservation work. This included work on the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, and the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, both specifically designed for sustainability in the arid desert environment. Carl was a member of the Alliance for Landscape Preservation, a national organization that encourages public support for the preservation of America’s significant landscapes.

Friends and family of Carl knew him as creative and passionate: a veritable force of nature. He was devoted to his wife and his three daughters, and over the years presided over an ever-expanding family. He was known as “Papa” to his ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; he loved to call himself “Papa bear” as he hugged his grandchildren. Carl was endlessly interested in people, and would gather life stories and recount them with wonder. Carl and Janet loved to travel; they took their three teenage daughters on a seven week tour of Europe in the summer of 1968. Carl took professional tours to study community design in other countries, visiting the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Carl and Janet had a special love for England, and visited many times with family and friends; beautiful English gardens and landscapes are a common theme in Carl’s watercolors. Carl pursued many and varied interests throughout his life. He was an avid reader who kept a journal of his reading and daily life. He loved the game of golf; in high school his team participated in the state championship, and he continued to enjoy golf throughout his life. In 1960 he and his brother Bill built a cottage together in Interlochen, Michigan, a cottage that is owned today by his three daughters and enjoyed by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Carl loved the natural beauty of God’s creation, enjoyed fishing, and would sit for hours on the dock, writing and enjoying the lake. Carl was an active member of both Huron Hills Church in Ann Arbor, and Joy Christian Community Church in Fountain Hills, AZ. Carl and Janet shared a great faith, a faith that they instilled in their three daughters, all of whom are active in their church communities and Christian work. Carl loved God completely, with his whole heart, mind, and soul, and each morning, his prayer was, “Lord, make me a blessing to someone today.” Carl will be missed dearly by his family and friends; with his death we celebrate together a life fully lived. Carl died peacefully, surrounded by his family, assured by his faith, having left behind a marvelous and lasting legacy in both his professional and personal life. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived, this is to have succeeded.”