William A. Johnson

Bill was born in Dallas,Texas, on December 3, 1925. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, working on the staff of Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii. With the exception of those years, he lived his entire life at his East Dallas home. His father, Homer Lee Johnson, was in the produce business in Dallas, and his grandfather, J.P. Dowell, owned a hardware store in McKinney. Bill was an SMU graduate and a world traveler whose favorite cities were Barcelona and Vancouver.

He had a collection of over 9000 motion pictures, and one of his great joys was his movie club, which met on Friday nights at his house. He was a devoted member of the Downtown YMCA, and he exercised there four hours a day until he could barely walk. His superb physical condition enabled him to survive several bouts with pneumonia, although he finally succumbed to Parkinson's Disease on March 23, 2015.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, Homer Dowell Johnson. He is survived by his nephews, Homer Dowell Johnson, Jr. and David Johnson, David's wife Debbie, and by his great-nephews, David Benjamin Johnson and Samuel Dowell Johnson as well as his faithful friends Steve Rossiter and Carl Perkins. He is also survived by his remarkable caregivers Rose Brown, Susan Lindsie Harris and Bobbie Redmon as well as by members of the staff at Signature Pointe, including, especially, Poonam Mehta.

Bill Johnson was a strong, independent spirit whose delight in life was an inspiration to his friends and family. He was a person of character and raw courage. He will be missed by many and is now part of the eternal life of God.

The family would ask that donations be made in lieu of flowers to the YMCA of Dallas.