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Russell "Bill" Johnson
August 5, 1930 - August 20, 2001
Russell Wm. “Bill” Johnson, 71, 19475 W. 9th C Road, Plymouth, a lifetime Plymouth and Donaldson area resident, died, at 8:15 a.m. on Monday, August 20, 2001, in the emergency room of the St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, Plymouth. Bill had been ill since 1997.
Born in Donaldson, on August 5, 1930, Bill was the son of Luther S. and Lila A. Larsen Johnson. After grammar school in the old Donaldson School House, he went to West High and played varsity basketball. He said, “we didn’t win many games, but had a lot of fun.”
Graduated in 1948, Bill went to work in the Singer plant in South Bend for a few months. In October of that year, he joined the Air Force and in 1950 was sent to Korea.
He served for two years, honorably discharged in 1952, with the rank of Technical Sergeant.
Home again, Bill worked for Studebaker for a while and then commuted 80 miles a day to the Electromotive Co., in Illinois. During this time he also attended IUSB, studying journalism. He hoped to become a teacher.
The drive to Illinois got to be “a pain,” he said, and in 1957, he approached the editor of the Pilot -News and asked for a job.
Put to work in the back shop in the production department, Bill operated the Fairchild machine that punched tape and ran it through the linotype machines. He explained it as “being an early computagraphic way of getting news off the wire and into the system.”
Bill Johnson spent forty years in the newspaper business doing the dirty work.
Forty years in the back shop: out of bed at 3 a.m., six days a week. Printer’s ink ingrained under his fingernails, setting type and laying out the ads. At one time or another, he did it all.
For 20 of those years, he was Production Manager. It was Bill who ordered ink by the barrel and paper by the truckload. For 15 years, he also did the camera work for the newspaper.
Getting out the paper.
Printing other people’s stories.
And all the while, inside him, known to but a few was a talent for writing that was superior to most journalists who call themselves ‘professionals.’
Bill always had loved to write. A reticent man, shy even, he had never offered his work to the public. He didn’t think it was good enough.
Encouraged by Eleanor Boys Blank, the publisher, and Bob Hutchins, the editor, he wrote the first of his columns for publication in 1973. He called them “Footpaths.”
His first printed effort was about the Gary steel mills irresponsibly cutting down timber to stoke their furnaces on weekends when they didn’t need to use the more expensive coal.
Raping the forests, he wrote.
A conservationist, Bill was enraged. It showed. The story was powerful.
Bill began to write three or four columns a month. “For my own satisfaction,” he said. “Some men like to golf. I like to write.”
He wrote about his children. A dyed-in-the-wool conservative, he wrote about
politics and how he felt about things.
Mad, mostly.
There were many memorable pieces. Stories that will be priceless legacies for his grandchildren. One was about fishing with his grandson, another was called “A Red, White and Blue Cup of Coffee,” and a fictional story, entitled “Something Awful About Grandpa,” was yet another.
Bob Hutchins asked Bill to do a weekly outdoors column. Bill called it “It’s Time for Conservation.” An avid fisherman and gardener, Bill said, “I liked to write about things that I know and have strong feelings about.”
A fly fisherman, making his own lures, he said, “it doesn’t really matter whether the fish are biting or not.” When the kids were little the family would go to Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or just about anywhere they were biting...or not biting.
Twice, at Hutchin’s urging, Bill’s column was entered into the annual Hoosier State Press Awards Contest and won first place as Best Column both times.
In 1973, Bill was elected as a member of Hoosier Outdoor Writers, an exclusive group limited to 50 writers and broadcasters.
In 1976, he was a delegate to the State Republican Convention. One of the thrills of his life was when Governor Bowen shook his hand and told him how much he enjoyed his columns.
That handshake, that comment, was worth a million dollars to Bill Johnson.
Good pay. Only pay really. He never earned a dime for any of his writing.
“That’s O.K., “ he said. “I did it because I loved writing.”
His last column was published in 1996, “ Depression Babies Vs. The Cry-Baby Boomers.” He retired in April of 1997.
Bill loved the Pilot-News. Oh, sure, he’d gripe about this or that: he wanted everything to be perfect. If a page wasn’t paginated correctly or cutlines under a photo were wrong or less than perfect grammar or shoddy reporting was used by reporters, he’d stomp around, cigarette between his teeth, fussing and growling.
He said, “I loved working for the newspaper. There is something special about getting a product out every day. No two are ever the same. There’s a great sense of accomplishment when the deadline has come and gone and you know you’ve done your job when the presses start to roll.”
He added, “the writing I did back in the Hutchins days gave me a freedom I could not have gotten elsewhere.”
Through the years, Bill was offered positions elsewhere. A large Canadian newspaper wanted to hire him, but he and his family loved Plymouth and they didn’t want to leave. A devoted family man, Bill was always involved in his children’s activities.
A classical music buff, he also enjoyed visiting sites on the internet about other countries and viewing many works of art.
Bill is survived by his wife, Carol Ann Woodfill, who he took as his bride on Dec. 20, 1959, in the First United Methodist Church in Plymouth, and by their three children: Lu H. Johnson and Jo Avery, Palm Springs, Cal. Andrea M. and Steve Collins, Osceola, Ind., and Monica R. Johnson, South Bend.
He adored his grandchildren and was so proud of his two grandsons and granddaughter, Matthew, Cody and Jessica Collins. They survive, together with Betty J. Rhodes, a sister, and two brothers, Floyd “Bud” and Charles “Duane” Johnson, all of Plymouth. A foster sister Betty Lee Snell of Atascadero, CA also survives.
He was preceded in death by his parents and by Dusty Rhodes, his brother-in-law and friend.
Friends of Bill and his family are invited to come to the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1100 N. Michigan St., Plymouth, Ind. from 3 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2001.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 24, 2001, in the funeral home. The Rev. Brian Deckinger, pastor of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, Donaldson, of which he was a member, will officiate. The V.F.W. Post 1162 will conduct military honors at the graveside in New Oakhill Cemetery, Plymouth.
Memorial gifts in Bill’s memory may be made to the American Lung Association.
Betty L. Kahn
March 27, 1930 - June 12, 2001
Seventy-one year old Betty Kahn, 7719 Redwood Road, Plymouth, died of natural causes at 4:08 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12, 2001, in St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, South Bend. A former Michigan City resident, Betty had lived in Sebring, Fla., for the past several winters.
Born in Plymouth, Indiana, on March 27, 1930, she was the daughter of Henry and Jennie Harbaugh Bixel. She graduated from Lincoln High School with the class of 1948.
On March 5, 1949, in Plymouth, she was married to Albert “Abe” Kahn.
Betty was an assembler for the Milton-Roy Corporation in Michigan City, retiring in 1992.
She liked to crochet and enjoyed playing cards and going to yard sales and flea markets. For 21 summers she enjoyed being in Jellystone Park.
Mostly though she loved her children and grandchildren and spending time with them.
She and Abe were members of the Moose Lodge # 980 in Michigan City.
Betty is survived by Abe, her husband of 52 years, a daughter and two sons. Her daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Jim Meece, live in Plymouth. Her son and daughter-in-law, Jack and Cindy Kahn, are in Michigan City and Jeffrey Kahn lives in South Bend. Six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and Guy, her brother, and, his wife, Diane, Bixel, Covington, Georgia, survive as well.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Willadean Towne and a brother, Richard Bixel.
Visitation with the family will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 15, 2001, and Saturday, June 16, one hour prior to the service, in the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1100 N. Michigan St., Plymouth.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Rev. Jimmy Baker, pastor of the Blissville Church of the Brethren where Betty attended, will officiate.
Burial will be in New Oakhill Cemetery, Plymouth.
Memorial gifts in Betty’s name may be made to the American Heart Association.
Harry L. Kamp
Septmeber 14, 1913 - July 25, 2001
Lifetime Plymouth area resident Harry L. Kamp who lived in the Pilgrim Manor Nursing Center, 222 Parkview St., Plymouth, died of natural causes on July 25, 2001, at 5:05 a.m. Harry was 87 years old.
Born on Sept. 14, 1913, in Plymouth, Harry was the son of Hiram and Nellie Powers Kamp. He attended Plymouth schools.
A self-employed truck driver for over 40 years, Harry loved race cars. He liked to race himself ( his car number was 66) and to watch other people race.
Harry is survived by two sons and three daughters. His sons, both of Plymouth, are Kenneth and Sondre Kamp and Dale and Sharon Kamp. His daughters are: Carolyn and Dale Manuwal, Plymouth and Margaret and John Cartright and Lynda Clemons, all of Naples, Fla.
Thirteen grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren also survive together with Hiram Kamp, a brother, of South Bend, Ind.
Harry was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, George Pressler and two grandchildren.
There will be no visitation.
Graveside funeral services will be on Friday, July 27, 2001 at 10 a.m. in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Argos, Ind. The Rev. Charles Krieg, pastor of the Pretty Lake Trinity United Methodist Church will officiate.
Lulu I. Kamp
June 7, 1928 - June 11, 2001
A Plymouth resident most of her life, Lulu I. Kamp, 73, 222 Parkview St., Plymouth, Indiana, died of natural causes at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, June 11, 2001, in the Pilgrim Manor Nursing Home.
Lulu, a graduate of Lincoln High School, was born in Plymouth on June 7, 1928. She was the daughter of Oral and Daisy Fear Haynes.
Retired from American Optical, now A.O. Safety, she had also worked as a waitress for Casey Jones.
An avid reader and a consummate Pepsi drinker, she enjoyed being with and often baby-sat for her nieces and nephews.
Lulu is survived by her son, Danny Kurtz and grandson, David Kurtz, both of Tampa, Fla. A brother, Raymond Haynes of Leesburg, Fla., a sister, Edith Maxon, Plymouth, and several nieces and nephews survive as well.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Roy and Kenneth Haynes and two sisters, Martha Stiles and Dorothy Richardson.
There will be no visitation. Graveside funeral services will be held in New Oakhill Cemetery, Plymouth, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001. The Rev. Charles Krieg, pastor of the Pretty Lake Methodist Church, will officiate.
Memorial gifts in Lulu’s memory may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
