LT Ralph E. Johnson
1919 - 1994
USAAC
WWII
Ralph Edison Johnson was born March 30, 1919 in Oak Park to Lawrence and Olga Brynildsen Johnson.
Johnson graduated from Oak Park High School, attended Dartmouth College and Northwestern University Law School before enlisting in the U.S. Army on June 24, 1942. He served as an Intelligence Officer in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Following D-Day, he was military governor of Liege, Belgium, and was honorably discharged on December 9, 1945 as a Lieutenant.
After his military service, he joined the textile manufacturing/tent and awning business started by his grandfather in the 1870’s, J.W. Johnson Company, and co-owned it with his brothers as Johnson Tent Company of Chicago.
On January 14, 1952 in Tucson, Arizona, he married Sidney Stratton of Oak Park; they raised five children in Barrington.
Johnson was a charter member and elder of the Presbyterian Church of Barrington, and served on the old Barrington Community Consolidated School District Board of Education from 1962 to 1968, the last two years as President. He was a life member of the Board of Managers of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, a 32nd Degree Mason and a Shriner. Johnson was an avid golfer, a member of Barrington Hills Country Club and the Chicago Golf Club.
LT Ralph Johnson passed away on June 12, 1994 in Barrington, and is buried with his wife in Evergreen Cemetery.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.