Walter Louis “Lou Lou” Johnson, resident of Irvington, Alabama, was born on November 25, 1961 in Mobile, Alabama. After a five-year long battle with cancer, Lou passed from this life on August 24, 2023.
Lou Lou was a fourth generation commercial fisherman, and had begun working on the water with his dad at the age of 13. He went on to captain The Henry J, Lady Charlotte, Miss Tory, and The Grinder. By the testimony of so many, he was one of the best bay boat captains that ever came out of the Bayou. He could catch shrimp when no one else could, and many said “don’t go out unless you see Lou’s boat go out”. He often sat in the captain’s chair with his foot on the wheel, steering through the ship channel – even in bad weather. He loved working in bad weather and on holidays, so he could, as he would say, have it “all to himself”. Often, he would be on his way out, when most of the other boats were coming in. The most shrimp he caught in one day was 70 boxes (7000 pounds) of 16/20s. The most in one trip was 146 boxes in 3 ½ days, an over 1000 boxes in 26 days, less than a month. Many said, “I’ve never heard of that on a bay boat in one month.” Lou lived on his boat for many years at the dock, and it was his only home for most of his later life. The dock at Coden Bayou was his little sanctuary. He often said he was “grandfathered in “at the old shop, being the third generation who lived there.
Lou was preceded in death by his grandparents on both sides.
He is survived by his parents, Walter Eugene and Shirley Johnson, Betty Joe and George Lundy; son, Shane (Jamie) Johnson; daughters, Heather (David) Wilson and Chasity (Nate) Higgins; siblings, Kathy (Joe) Barko, Carla (Bruce) Huber, Darrell Johnson, George (Jamie) Johnson, Rev. Bruce (Christina) Johnson, Scott Lundy, Doug (Kelly) Lundy, Pastor Rusty (Krista) Johnson, and Darrell (Sandra) Lundy; grandchildren, Austin (Kirsten) Bailey, Emma and Kahne Johnson, Tristin, Charlotte, Audrey and Louis Wilson, and Penelope “Lil Bit” Higgins; special friends, Kim and Hannah Bosarge; along with many nieces and nephews, and a host of other family and friends.
Visitation for Lou will be held on Monday, August 28, 2023 from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Lighthouse of Hope Holiness church, located at 11501 Argyle Road, Irvington, Alabama 36544. The funeral service will be held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 11 a.m. at Lighthouse of Hope Holiness Church, with interment in Odd Fellows Cemetery immediately following.
