Woodrow Wilson Johnson

On October 30, 2013 WOODROW WILSON JOHNSON; beloved husband of the late Corinne Johnson (nee Dorsey); loving father of Courtney D. Johnson and his wife Nerissa and the late Sandra Gaither and June Johnson; cherished grandfather of Christopher Nicholas Johnson, Laurie Ann Gaither, Shelley Bennett, Eugene Louis Gaither, Jr. and the late Samantha Corinne Johnson; dear great-grandfather of Jada Bennett. Also survived by nieces, newphews and a host of relatives and friends.

The family will receive friends in the LEMMON FUNERAL HOME OF DULANEY VALLEY INC., 10 W. Padonia Road (at York Road) Timonium, MD 21093 on Monday, 2-4 & 7-9pm. Funeral Services will be celebrated in the funeral home on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 11am. Interment Union Chapel U.M. Church Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, monetary donations may be directed in Woodrow’s memory to Mt. Joy A.M.E. Church, 17223 Troyer Rd, Monkton, MD 21111 &/or Union Chapel U. M. Church, 17347 Troyer Road, Monkton, MD 21111. A guest book is available at www.lemmonfuneralhome.com

Woodrow Wilson Johnson, son of the late Josephine and Emory Johnson, was born on their family owned farm, Johnson’s Delight Farm, in Monkton, MD on May 1, 1918. He departed this life on October 30, 2013 at the University of MD Medical Center at St. Joseph located in Towson, MD.

Woodrow’s grandparents were Annie and James Zachary Johnson. His great-grandparents were Perlita and Joshua Johnson who were descendants of the famous Black portrait artist Joshua Johnson. He was the middle child of five, with four sisters who preceded him in his quest to heaven: Charlotte Anderson, Elsie Higgs, Dora Hawkins, and Margaret Harris.

Woodrow attended a one-room African American school named “Shepperd School,” which was located not far from his home from 1924-1932. The school was built on property donated by his family.

He first met his wife, Minnie Corinne Dorsey, when she stepped off the Parkton Local (train) at the Monkton Railroad Station on her way to teach school at Shepperd. Corinne roomed with his Uncle Horatio and Aunt Sue Williams. Their house was directly across the road from Shepperd School. Corinne taught at Shepperd School for two years and they were married in 1943. After being married, they immediately set up their newlywed household on Kelly Avenue in Mt. Washington, MD. Corinne got a job at the post office and he worked for the US Army Quartermaster Depot, located in Timonium, MD, where the Maryland State Fairgrounds are located today. After his employment with the federal government, he went to work for the Bendix Corporation in Towson, MD (early to mid-1940’s).

Woodrow always had a love for horses. Around 1946, he was able to secure a job as a trainer with Myers & Saportas Racing Stables’ Inverness Farm. Inverness Farm owned by William Myers and Babe Saportas was located on Old York and Markoe Roads in Monkton, almost in the heart of “My Lady’s Manor”. He progressed as a trainer and was eventually promoted to the position of General Manager. Woodrow worked there from 1946 to 1952, until the property was sold. After his employment at Inverness Farm ended, he landed a position working with thoroughbred horses at another racing stable owned by Hirsch Jacobs called Stymie Manor Farm in August 1952. Stymie Manor Farm was located at Carroll and Corbett Roads, Monkton, MD. Woodrow went there with the intentions of working there only from August until January. He had another promising job offering at Sagamore Farms in Greenspring Valley, which was to commence in January 1953 as a broodmare man. A broodmare man’s job duties consisted of working with mares that were preparing to or have had newly born foals.

When the time came around for him to leave his current job at Stymie Manor Farm, he had just received a salary increase. Woodrow really liked the opportunity he had lined up at the Sagamore Farm, but it was nineteen miles from home, and his job at Stymie Manor Farm was just about five minutes from his home. So with his recent salary increase in-hand, he decided that Hirsch Jacob’s Stymie Manor Farm was the best place to work and he remained there working with thoroughbred racing horses for over twenty-one years. All together, he worked forty years training horses, mostly thoroughbred racehorses. One horse he raised from a yearling that was owned by Hirsch Jacobs, named “Personality”, raced in the Kentucky Derby but didn’t win. But that same horse came back two weeks later and won in the Preakness in Baltimore. That same year, another horse raised by Woodrow and owned by Jacobs, named “High Echelon”, won the Belmont Stakes in New York. Although he really loved working with horses, it was a seven days-a-week job with few benefits. In 1970, Woodrow left employment under Hirsch Jacobs and went to work for McCormick Spice Company in Hunt Valley, MD, as a warehouseman/order picker. Working at McCormick’s provided him medical benefits, hospitalization, a retirement plan, higher wages, a forty hour workweek, and several weeks of paid vacations. Woodrow worked for McCormick Spice Company until he retired in 1977. After retirement he was self-employed as a “Country Gentleman Farmer”.

Back tracking to 1951, he began construction on his house located on Troyer Road and it was completed in 1952 where he resided until his death. Woodrow and Corinne had three children, two daughters and a son. Their oldest daughter, Sandra Vernice; their second daughter (who died of crib death), June Lelia; and last but not least, one son, Courtney Dorsey. Woodrow was an active member of Mt. Joy A.M.E. Church until his illness restricted him from attending.