William Sherburne Johnson

WILLIAM S. JOHNSON William Sherburne Johnson was born on January 3, 1923, in Kearny, Neb. He spent the first nine years there with his parents, Ralph Sherburne Johnson and Hilda Pearson Johnson. After their separation, he went to Torrance, Calif., to live with his Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Horace Woods. After he graduated from Torrance High School, he attended UCLA on a football scholarship. His time there was cut short by the Second World War, as he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in January, 1943. In June of that year he was at the Marine Air Corps flight school in Norman, Okla. He met his future wife, Phyllis Jean Butler, at the First Methodist Church in nearby Shawnee, Okla. In August of that year he began his tour of duty in the South Pacific theater of war as a tail gunner on a Marine Corps SBD Dauntless dive bomber. Bill survived his combat deployment and then from November of 1944 was stationed at the Miramar Air Depot near San Diego. He managed to visit Phyllis in Oklahoma and they became engaged in January of 1945, and married on June 9 of 1945. They moved to Santa Anna near Miramar, then after his honorable discharge moved to Los Angeles, where he managed a portrait studio. In 1947 he attended the Fred Archer School of Photography and graduated at the top of his class. The Johnsons moved to Lakewood, Colo., in 1949 and Bill managed a photography studio in Denver. He loved being a photographer and soon opened his own studio. He also worked for the Jefferson Sentinel Newspaper, then became a respected staff photographer for the Denver Post, where he worked for 23 years. He travelled extensively to cover local, regional and national stories, and accompanied the Denver Broncos on all of their away games. In 1980 he and Phyllis moved to Mancos, Colo., where they enjoyed the retirement of their dreams. They joined the Methodist Church and Bill became a lay speaker there. More recently he became a member of the Lions Club, which is naming a scholarship in his honor. Bill Johnson is survived by his wife, Phyllis; daughters, Jennifer Hix and Kelly Johnson; and his sons, Bill Johnson Jr., and Carl A. Johnson. His grandsons are Zachariah Johnson and Zach Brown; his grand-daughter is Lindsey Johnson; and his great granddaughter is Madison Brown. Memorial services will be held at the Mancos United Methodist Church, 470 West Grand Avenue, on May 30 at 1 p.m.