JAMES JOHNSON

CAIRO, Ill. -- Col. James S. Johnson of Cairo died Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky.

He was born Nov. 2, 1910, at Barlow, Ky., son of Dr. James S. and Margaret Wilford Johnson. He and Betty Kleb were married Nov. 17, 1940.

He was a 1920 graduate of Cairo High School and attended the University of Missouri and Murray State University.

He was employed by the Corps of Engineers in the Memphis Engineer District until 1938. He accepted a position as executive director of the Alexander County Housing Authority, which he held until retiring in 1974.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Army from 1933, when he enlisted as a private and retired from the military as colonel in 1970. He served in the 75th infantry division at the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhineland. He served as a troop commander at Camp Norfolk and during his military career as a field artillery unit commander. He was awarded a Silver Star and Bronze Star, French Croix de Guerre, Arms of the City of Colmar and the First French Army Association of the Rhine and Danube.

He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church; the Cairo Jaycees; Cairo Chamber of Commerce; Cairo Rotary Club; Cairo Elks Lodge No. 651; Cairo Masonic Lodge No. 237 AF&AM, where he served as past master; Cairo Chapter No. 71 Royal Arch Masons; Cairo Commandry No. 13 Knights Templar, where he served as past eminent commander; a 32nd degree Mason; Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Southern Illinois; KIM Shrine Club in Cairo and Ainad Shrine Temple in East St. Louis, Ill.; and the Cairo School board, where he served as past president.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, James S. Johnson III of New Concord, Ky., and Leo Kleb Johnson of Oxford, Miss., a sister, Agnes Cooper of Cairo; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Cairo.

Funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the church, with Richard Keplinger officiating. Burial will be in Cairo City Cemetery, with graveside rites by Cairo Lodge No. 237 AF&AM, with military honors by the U.S. Honor Guard at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo is in charge of arrangements.