JOHN STANLEY JOHNSON's Obituary
JOHN STANLEY JOHNSON
RETIRED TEACHER-SPORTS ANNOUNCER
Mr. Johnson, age 93 passed away Monday, August 18, 2025 in Jacksonville, Florida. He was born July 12, 1932 in Wolf Lake, Indiana. He graduated from Cromwell High School in 1950 and played a partial season of professional baseball in 1951.
Johnson received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. While in Muncie, John was a play-by-play sports announcer for WLBC and WLBC-TV.
John was a speech therapist in Saginaw, Michigan for two years and in 1958 he married the former Beverly Lou Hoover and moved to Mishawaka, Indiana. John taught 19 years in South Bend, Indiana. He taught mathematics, coached football, basketball and baseball and also directed plays and musicals. He was also a sports announcer at Notre Dame (WNDU and WNDU-TV) from 1959 to 1974. John founded and operated The Country Playhouse, a professional Summer Stock Musical Theatre in South Bend from 1964 to 1967.
In 1978 Johnson and his wife moved to Gainesville, Florida and they resumed their teaching careers in Mayo, Florida. He was a speech therapist, gifted education and high school drama teacher at Lafayette Elementary and Lafayette High School until he retired in 1994 after 37 years in teaching.
Mr. Johnson was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Mishawaka. He was also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville.
He was the son of Stanley and Helen Johnson from Cromwell, Indiana. After retiring from teaching, he taught senior citizen line dancing for 14 years. He choreographed 250 line dances and wrote a book to help teach the activity.
In 2008, he and Beverly moved to Fleet Landing, a CCRC in Atlantic Beach, Florida. At Fleet Landing, he continued teaching line dancing for two years and called bingo until his death. He was also a vocal soloist with a musical group called "The Unrehearsed Trio."
He was preceded in death by his wife of nearly 60 years, Beverly L Johnson.
What’s your fondest memory of JOHN?
What’s a lesson you learned from JOHN?
Share a story where JOHN's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with JOHN you’ll never forget.
How did JOHN make you smile?