Harold Morley Johnston, Jr., 87, of Victoria, Texas, passed away on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Harold was born on June 5, 1937 in Victoria, Texas to Harold Morley Johnston, Sr. and Virginia Teal Morris Johnston. Harold’s childhood years were spent in Victoria and Austin until 1944, when his mother, Virginia Johnston, died from childbirth complications when Harold was six years old. After his mother’s death, Harold primarily lived with his maternal grandparents, Rose and Leopold Morris in Victoria.
Early school years were spent at Nazareth Academy and St. Joseph’s in Victoria and the Neumann Catholic School in Austin, as well as schools in Davenport and Mason City, Iowa during stays with his paternal grandparents. Harold began high school at St. Joseph’s in Victoria and St. Austin in Austin and finished at Staunton Military Academy in Virginia. While home from Staunton Academy for Christmas, Harold Johnston met Melba Jean Rasmussen at a friend’s holiday party. Melba and Harold were married on March 15, 1957 in San Antonio and honeymooned in Mexico City. College days began at Victoria College, continued at University of Texas at Austin, and completed at the University of Houston where Johnston earned a BA in Economics.
Johnston’s career was spent with the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas, where he worked in Materials Management with a variety of assignments in Europe. During this time, Melba and Harold lived and raised their children, Elizabeth, Michael, and Kathleen, in nearby Lake Jackson, Texas. In 1993, after 31 years with Dow, Johnston retired and moved back to Victoria full-time where he and Melba restored and lived in the home his grandparents, Rose and Leopold Morris, built in 1925. During retirement, Melba and Harold enjoyed travels that took them to Ireland, France, England, Holland, and a cruise on the SS Norway.
Harold was newsletter editor and active board member of the Victoria County Genealogy Society (VCGC) and member of the Steering Committee of five hard-working local historians who conceived and published The History and Heritage of Victoria County. The beautiful, three-volume, hardbound set is a compilation of submissions by many hundreds of Victoria County families and businesses of their histories, photos, and vignettes of Victoria County life from early days to present and an excellent primary resource for family history research.
In 2013, Johnston and his daughter Elizabeth Winn organized a website dedicated to education about the earliest cattle ranchers and brands of Victoria County and published a new edition of the important historical print, Pioneer Cattlemen of Victoria County. This print was originally designed and issued in 1947 by Johnston’s grandfather, Leopold Morris, longtime editor of The Victoria Advocate, Texas House Representative, and first Postmaster of Victoria. At the age of 10, Johnston watched his grandfather set the type and photo plates for the intricately designed print.
For his 80th birthday, Harold’s children took him to New Orleans for fun, food, and Fagan research. With the help of a New Orleans history librarian, they determined the general location on modern day Canal Street of family patriarch and Irish immigrant Nicholas Fagan’s wheelwright and blacksmith shop during his time in New Orleans from 1821 until he moved his family to Texas in 1829 where his descendants have been ever since.
Harold was a devout Catholic, a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Serra Club, Sons of the Republic of Texas, Texas First Families, and the Victoria Symphony. He loved mowing his lawn to perfection. He and his children enjoyed going to the symphony, talking Texas and family history, and dining out on oysters with a cold, gin martini. His appreciation for family heritage was influenced by his close relationship with his Aunt Agnes Murphy, Texas ranch woman, daughter of pioneer ranchers Michael Murphy and Julia Victoria Teal Murphy and his grandfather Leopold Morris, a man of letters and consummate documentarian of Victoria and Texas history.
To his children and grandsons, Harold passed his enthusiasm for knowing the value of exploring and preserving the history of family members past. It will be his enduring legacy.
Harold is survived by his children, Elizabeth Teal Winn, husband Edward; Michael Murphy Johnston, and Kathleen Barthelow Blaschke; grandsons, Walker Madison Winn, Taylor Vincent Winn, Maximillian Fagan Blaschke, and Benjamin VonWaldhauser Blaschke; sister-in-law, Sandra Nell Moraw Sommerfrucht; nieces, Virginia Ball, Susan Rather, and Kathryn Swiedom; and nephews, Robert Johnston, Patrick Johnston, Thomas ‘TJ’ Johnston, Ryan Moraw, and Patrick Moraw. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife and our much-loved mother, Melba Jean Rasmussen; brothers, Robert Morris Johnston and Thomas Murphy Johnston; sister-in-law Mary Jo Riley Johnston; and nephews David Wayne Johnston and Michael Harvey Johnston.
Visitation will be 4-6 PM with a rosary recited at 6 PM, Sunday, March 9, 2025 at Rosewood Funeral Chapel in Victoria. The Funeral Mass will be held at 10 AM, Monday, March 10, 2025 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Burial will immediately follow at Catholic Cemetery #3.
Pallbearers will be Edward Winn, Michael Johnston, Walker Winn, Taylor Winn, Max Blaschke, and Ben Blaschke.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Mary’s Catholic Church or the Victoria County Genealogical Society.
Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.rosewoodfuneralchapel.com.
