Obituary of James P. Johnson

James P. (Mick) Johnson of Osage Beach died October 29, 2009 at Lake Regional Health System, Osage Beach, Missouri. He was 82. He was born April 27, 1927 in Saint Mary's Township, Illinois. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and received his high-school diploma while serving at Great Lakes Naval Station. In 1948, he met his future wife, Annie, at an ice-skating party near Plymouth, Illinois. That year, he also began working for her father's business, J.B. Bushnell Drilling Co. Annie and he married on November 4, 1950. They eventually bought the business and ran it until a catastrophic fire forced their retirement in 1986. They moved to Osage Beach in 1988. He also served in professional leadership positions in the Illinois water-well industry. From 1975 to 1988, he was on the board of the Illinois Water Well Association (now the Illinois Association of Groundwater Professionals), and served as its president from 1979 to 1981. He also served on the Illinois Water Well Contractor Licensing Board. He was a member of Harper Chapel UMC in Osage Beach. He was also a member of the American Legion Post 912 in Plymouth, Ill., the Plymouth AF&AM Masonic Lodge, the Ansar Shrine in Springfield, Ill., and the Quincy (Ill.) Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, attaining the rank of 33rd Degree Mason. He loved to golf, and he loved to make things. After his retirement, Mick took up woodworking, and donated countless hours to projects for friends, family members and the community. He is survived by his wife, Clarice A. (Annie) Johnson; his children, Mary Sylvester (Joe) of Pleasant Plains, Ill., Jim Johnson (Linda) of Osage Beach, Tim Johnson (Theresa) of Ballwin, Mo., and Michelle Johnson of Winston-Salem, N.C.; his grandchildren, Nikky, Cassie and Jeremy Sylvester and Joshua and James Johnson; and his great-grandchildren, Desiree and Jesse Johnson and Luke and Joseph Sylvester; sisters Mary McCubbin and Donna Hills and brother Joe Johnson. His parents, Dona and Ivan Johnson, and his siblings, Fern and William Doherty and Myron Johnson, preceded him in death.