Wofford Nelson Johnson

Wofford was born in the rural area of Spartanburg County, South Carolina in 1933. He was the son of Harry N. and Edith P. Johnson. He had two brothers - Harry D. Johnson and Armand Johnson. His parents and brother Harry D Johnson, and Armand Johnson are deceased.

Wofford always loved sports and lettered in football and baseball at Fair Forest High School in rural SC. He graduated in 1951. Wofford met and fell in love with Ann Tappe in high school and they were married in 1954.

Wofford graduated from Georgia Tech in 1955 with a BS degree in Industrial Management. Upon graduation, Wofford accepted employment with the Insurance Company of North America and was sent to Tampa. INA later merged with Connecticut General and became known as CIGNA. Wofford worked for over 37 years with INA/CIGNA and was a Vice President responsible for the Real Estate Insurance Services segment in 13 southeastern states at the time of his retirement in 1993.

Wofford was enrolled in ROTC at Tech and attended the Engineer Officer Basic Training at Fort Belvoir and served with the 20th Engineer Brigade at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He served in the Army reserves in Tampa for 12 years. After the tour in the Army, Wofford and Ann returned to Tampa and had remained in Tampa since 1957.

Wofford and Ann have twin daughters, Leeane Johnson and Roxane Traczyk.

Leeane lives in Houston, Texas and has two of his two grandchildren, Christina and Jason. Christina is married to Clint Rutledge, and they live in Texas with his three grandchildren, Carter, Kennedy and Monroe. Jason is married to Katie and they live in Texas.

Roxane lives in Lithia, Florida, and is married to Steve Traczyk, and has his two grandchildren, Ashley and Casey. Ashley is married to Kyle and they live in Central Florida.

Wofford’s love of sports continued as he was a founding member of the Tampa Sports Club, where he served as president in 1970.

Wofford was appointed to the Hillsborough County Commissioner’s Citizens Advisory Committee and served for 7 years and one year as Chairman. Wofford also served on the Hillsborough County Citizens Advisory Committee for the Environmental Protection Agency for 2 years.

He was active in his Sunset Park Neighborhood Association and served as President. He also became active in the City of Tampa Umbrella Group for Neighborhood Associations (THAN) and served 3 years as President. He was awarded a Commendation plaque by the Tampa City Council in recognition of his years of community service.

Wofford always had a great love for the outdoors and wildlife. He also loved his pets and always had dogs or cats in his home. He couldn't stand the thought of an animal going hungry so there were always several cats on his porch waiting to be fed.