Leo Johnson

Leo Johnson passed away on March 21, 2025, in Riverside, California. Born in Waverly, Tennessee in 1935, Leo was one of many southerners of the Great Migration who left what he always called “home” to make a new home for himself, his wife, Hattie, and his growing family in Los Angeles, California, where he lived for many years. Among the first of family and friends in Waverly to migrate to Los Angeles, Leo welcomed and helped many loved ones who came to California find opportunities and new beginnings on the West Coast. He loved California, but he journeyed back home to Tennessee whenever he had the opportunity. While Leo never lost his deep love for his home state, he helped many others establish themselves in California and build their lives and grow their families. His legacy of community building has transformed the lives of so many to this day. During his lifetime, he lived in various neighborhoods in and around Southern California, including Watts, West Covina, Chino, and Moreno Valley. In Moreno Valley, he lived his last years under the loving care of his son, Jeffrey, and daughter-in-law, Dyeann.

Leo was also a life-long traveler who sought experience and adventure. As a young man he hopped trains for work; his early years in Los Angeles found him in Malibu, waiting tables while taking in the ocean breeze and California sun; his life in the military, where he served as a mechanic, took him all over the world, including the Middle East, Germany, Italy, and many other parts of Europe. Leo’s ambition and spirit always led him to places he said he could not have imagined as a young boy in Tennessee. He received his Master of Arts in Sociology from California State Dominquez Hills in 1986 after writing his thesis on community-based mental health care, which led him to his career in social work. In Orange County, he served the youth of California and touched countless lives. After retirement, he continued to do one of his favorite things in life, which was to travel. Again, the man from a small town made his way to places far and wide: France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the Philippines, where with his second wife, Bibi, he visited many times throughout the years. His last trip was his first cruise, sailing to Mexico, where he enjoyed his large, extended family and spent most nights appreciating live music, especially jazz, as he sailed across the ocean.

As much as Leo loved to travel, he may have loved music even more. Throughout his lifetime, he acquired a vast collection of records and CDs which he was sure to be playing whenever you visited him. Leo loved people and loved to have a good time, and that good time always included conversation—Leo was a great storyteller—music and usually a nice glass of cognac. If you were a passenger in Leo’s car, you heard Lou Rawls or Quincy Jones coming through the speakers. Or if you were visiting Leo at home, you might hear Aretha Franklin, Millie Jackson or Dinah Washington; or maybe you heard B.B. King or Ray Charles singing the blues. Always, there was song. Once, when asked what he would have liked to have done had he not become a social worker, Leo said that he would have liked to have been a songwriter.

A lover of the great American pastime of baseball, you could find Leo at Dodger Stadium until he traded his loyalty to the Angels and to the San Francisco Giants—much to the dismay of his daughter, Dana. And if there was a baseball game on, Leo was sure to have it playing either on the radio or television. When his mother, Magnolia Ralston, made her first trip to California in the late 70s, Leo was proud to show her the new home he’d made for himself in West Covina, and he made sure she saw her favorite player, Dusty Baker, at Dodger Stadium. A baseball fan his whole life, Leo played in a softball league with his social-worker colleagues, who bragged about his fantastic tomahawk swing, a swing like no other in their league. Leo was rarely seen without his San Francisco Giants gear or his favorite baseball cap commemorating the great Negro League baseball teams of America.

Another beloved past time of Leo’s was fishing, and he’d often be out on the water waiting for the next great catch with family and friends and sharing more stories.

Leo will join his brother, Harris D. Johnson, and his sister, Mary Jo Crawford, in the great beyond. He is survived by family who still live in Tennessee; by his first and second wives Hattie Johnson and Bibi Johnson-Holden respectively; by his children Jeffrey Johnson, Tracey Mejia-Johnson, and Dana Johnson; and by his stepchildren, Froilan Odonio, Elena Holden-Tuens, David Holden, Barbara Holden, Martin Holden, and Linda Holden-Ellis. He is also survived by twenty-nine grandchildren, twenty-five great grandchildren, and one great, great grandchild. Leo leaves behind the gift of his legacy, a legacy of family and community as beautiful as any song he could have written. Countless lives were touched by Leo’s adventuresome spirit, by his generosity and care. As we, family and friends of Leo, continue our own journeys in this life, let us take everything Leo Johnson has given to us. Let us sing his song.