Johnny C. Vanlandingham

in Manning, Arkansas, to the late Charley Vanlandingham and Magdalene (Freeman) Vanlandingham. Johnny completed two years at Southern State College (now South Arkansas University) in Magnolia, Arkansas. He moved to Texas in 1959 and earned his BE and ME in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Most of his working career was at Bell Helicopter Textron.

Johnny was a member of The Gideons International since 1988 and participated in many Bible distributions. He volunteered at Meals on Wheels for 16 years and at the Tarrant County jails for many years.

Johnny was an avid bridge player. He played almost daily during his lunch break throughout his career at Bell Helicopter. He continued to play weekly in his retirement years which enabled him to make several new friends. We think he was a pretty good player.

Johnny’s favorite recording artists were Merle Haggard and B.B. King. He owned a large collection of vinyl albums and CDs. He enjoyed listening to his Spotify library.

Johnny’s fondest avocation was the acquisition and management of pine timberland. He purchased his first parcel of land in the seventies and persevered until he accomplished his goal of owning over a thousand acres of timberland. He enjoyed spending several long days walking in the forests he owned in Arkansas and Texas each year. On many of these trips he was accompanied by his son, Duane, and was recently accompanied by his grandson, John. Johnny was dedicated to sustainable forestry management.

Johnny is survived by his wife, Mary (Keeter) Vanlandingham of Bedford, Texas, children, Sonya (Bob) Looney, of Granbury, Texas, Duane Vanlandingham, of Irving, Texas, and Charlotte (David) Donaldson, of Dallas, Texas, grandchildren, Stephanie Gossett of Fort Worth, Texas, John Donaldson and Steven Donaldson of Dallas, Texas, great-grandchildren, Reese Gossett and Logan Gossett, of Fort Worth, Texas, sister, Gladys (Gary) Nelson, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and brother, Wallace (Freda) Vanlandingham, of Little Rock, Arkansas, step-daughter, Traci (Ken) Hoppenrath, of Azle, Texas, three step-grandsons and their spouses, five step-great-grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.