He was born on April 12, 1932 to the late Arthur Dee and Elsie K. Johnson in Leake County, MS. He attended Clarke College in Newton, MS after serving in the US Air Force during the Korean War and was an avid lifelong pilot, designer and inventor. He married Hedy Sue Bratcher in Port Gibson, MS in 1951. They moved to Columbus, Ohio where he was stationed in the Air Force, later transferring to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL.
The family relocated to Jackson, MS in 1964, where Lee continued operations of a lawnmower manufacturing company he started in Zachary, LA. The Cajun Clipper was renamed the “Johnson Big Wheel Mower” and was produced for many years in Jackson before the operation moved to a new manufacturing facility in Ridgeland, MS in the late 70’s. The company continued selling mowers and edgers all over the country and to many military bases in other countries. Lee sold his business to MacKissic Co. in Pennsylvania before retiring to Arizona in 2008.
In addition to his parents, Lee was preceded in death by his sisters, Nell Grant and Ella Nell Johnson.
Lee is survived by his daughters, Deborah Poulton of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL; Cassie Davey and husband Paul of Madison, MS; and son, Lee Johnson, Jr. and wife Mary of Madison Co. MS; and sister, Martha Furr of Baker, LA; and grandchildren, E. Robert Sutton, Wilson McMullan, Jessica Honan, Jamie Kuns, and Andrew Vincent. He will be dearly missed by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, family and friends.
Visitation will be held Thursday, November 1, 2018 at Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home in Pearl, MS from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm. Funeral services will be held on Friday, November 2, 2018 at Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home at 11:00 am, followed by interment at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson, MS.
