Walter Edgar Johnson

Walter E. Johnson, age 92, died peacefully on January 2 in Tampa, Florida, where he resided with his daughter, Janet. He was born, the sixth of seven children, on April 28, 1922 in Macon County Illinois, Niantic Township, to William M. Johnson and Ora Grace “Stahl” Johnson, all now deceased. Walter was close to his roots and to the farm where he grew up, and in his later years spent much time researching his ancestry and recording his experiences as a boy on the farm.

During the Second World War he left the farm to go into the Army, and this took him to India on one of his greatest adventures, a time about which he loved to reminisce. On August 17, 1943, just before shipping out, Walter married Helen Louise Howard . After returning from the war Walter took up carpentry, becoming a general contractor before retiring in the 1980s.

After Helen, whom he described as “the wind beneath my wings,” passed away on October 21, 2009, he moved to Florida to live with his daughter, Janet.

Walter and Helen had two children, Janet Ellen and Walter William Johnson. He also had four grandchildren, Sandra Lynn “Beatus” Jones , Christine Ann “Beatus” Schneider, children of Janet and Terry Beatus, and Garrett Anil Johnson and Evan William Johnson, children of Walter and Susan E. “Hinton” Johnson. They also had one great granddaughter, Olivia Danielle Schneider, whom they called “the love of our life.”

A memorial service will be held at 11:30am on Saturday January 17, 2015 at Bisch and Son Funeral Home, 505 East Allen Street, and the family will meet friends one hour prior to the service Saturday at the funeral home. A graveside service will be held at 1:30pm Saturday following the memorial service at Long Point Cemetery in Niantic, IL., where Military Honors will be conducted. Please visit the online “Life Remembered Story” at www.bischandsonfuneralhome.com.