MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Frazier, Horhn

A RESOLUTION TO COMMEND MR. WASHINGTON JOHNSON, SR., AND DR. MILDRED JOHNSON.

WHEREAS, Washington Johnson, Sr., was born March 21, 1925, to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Johnson, Sr., of Birmingham, Alabama, the second of six siblings; and

WHEREAS, in 1944, after graduating from West Field High School in Birmingham, his goal was to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia; and

WHEREAS, with the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the Air Force and after basic training was assigned to Keesler's Field in Biloxi, Mississippi, the state's largest Air Corps training field, where he served in the medical corps and was able to share the love of God with the sick; and

WHEREAS, after the war, he received an honorable discharge with many medals and ribbons from the country he loved, returning home to enroll in college, and

WHEREAS, without warning his father died, placing the responsibility of the family on his shoulders; at 22, when most of his friends were graduating from college, he was working 10-12 hours a day for the United States Steel Company; once again his dream seemed to have faded, but he promised God that if he ever had children he would work hard and save so that they would be able to attend college; and

WHEREAS, for 40 years, he worked faithfully and moved up the ladder until he became a supervisor at the United States Steel Company; and

WHEREAS, he is an elder in the Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a member of the NAACP, the Urban League, Adventist Men, Bush Hill Neighborhood Watch Program and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars; and

WHEREAS, in 1992, he was invited with his wife to attend the inauguration of the President of the United States by Representative Tom Bevill of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, he enjoys working with people, and in 1995-1996 volunteered to work with AIDS patients in New York City, New York; and

WHEREAS, Mildred Johnson was born May 3, 1930, to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Poole; her father was a mortician known throughout Alabama and Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, in 1949, she graduated from Austin High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and afterwards enrolled in nursing school in Birmingham, Alabama; and

WHEREAS, she was married to Washington in 1950, and expecting their first child a year later; they both agreed that she would stay at home and later attend college, but her first priority was to her family even if it meant delaying her education; and

WHEREAS, in 1963, their last child was born and Mildred began to volunteer in their church's school; later she was hired as a Bible instructor in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church; with her job she taught Bible in Africa, Canada, China, the Caribbean Islands, the State of Mississippi from the Delta to the Coast and throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS, during this time she returned to college part-time receiving an honorary Doctor of Human Letters from Birmingham Theological Seminary in 1978, her BS in Criminal Justice in 1980, and, in 1982, her Master's in Religious Education from Faith College in Birmingham, Alabama; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Johnson serves on the Board of Faith College, Planning Committee for Women, Ministry of South Central Conference, Oakwood College Evangelism Counsel, NAACP, Urban League, and currently is writing a book on evangelism; and

WHEREAS, Washington and Mildred Johnson traveled to 10 countries in Europe in 1995; now retired, they both enjoy traveling, gardening, working in the church and watching their three grandchildren grow; and

WHEREAS, Mildred does not regret the decision that she made to be a homemaker and to receive her education later in life; she was there when they needed her to impress upon their young minds faith in Christ and the importance of education; and

WHEREAS, because of their joint effort as a family unit, their children have walked in the straight path because their parents communicate love so that they would not have to go looking for it in the wrong places; the church and their parents' faith in Christ has been the foundation for their success; and

WHEREAS, the text that has been an anchor for Washington and Mildred Johnson in raising six children is Proverbs 22:6 which states, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."; and

WHEREAS, one of their children, Washington Johnson, II, graciously agreed to minister to the Senate on Wednesday, May 3, 2000, and to lead the opening invocation; and

WHEREAS, through their devotion to the power of education, they provided college educations to all six of their children, Washington Johnson, II, husband of Joyce Johnson and father of Washington Johnson, III; Janice Anne Johnson-Browne, wife of Benjamin Browne; Cynthia Yvette Johnson; Stephanie Johnson-Dingome, wife of Jil Dingome; Rosalind Gail Johnson-Adedokun, wife of Muyiwa Adedokun and mother of Kemi and Deji; and Grayland Johnson; and

WHEREAS, Washington and Mildred Johnson, together with the power of the Almighty God, accomplished what is unfortunately extraordinary for many African-American families, providing college and graduate degrees for all six of their children and instilling in them the importance of Christian principles and education:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby commend Washington Johnson, Sr., and his wife, Dr. Mildred Johnson, for their devotion to their children, to the value of education and to the betterment of their race and to the betterment of America as a whole by the upright lives they have led, and by the example they have given to their children, grandchildren and to their church school, the E.E. Rogers Seventh-Day Adventist Academy.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be presented to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, their children and to the principal of the academy.