Benjamin Lester Johnson

The family of Benjamin Lester Johnson, 86, of Marietta, Georgia, is sad to announce his passing on January 10, 2022, as a result of complications from a fall at his home. Ben was born in 1935, in Warrenton, Georgia, the only son of William Norman Johnson and Mauree Johnson (née Anderson). After graduating from Warrenton High School in 1953, Ben attended Mercer University in Macon, from which he graduated in 1957 with a bachelor of arts degree. While at Mercer, Ben served as executive officer of the Army ROTC band, in which he played the bass drum, and as No. 1 of the Kappa Alpha Order; in addition, he was a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and the Blue Key Honor Society. More important, he met the love of his life, Joan LeCroy of Savannah, at Mercer, and they married in 1956. As a participant in Mercer’s dual enrollment program, Ben began law school concurrent with his senior year as an undergrad. He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the US Army Reserve and was called to active duty while still in law school. He fulfilled his two-year commitment at Fort Lee, Virginia, and was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant, after which he completed his final year of law school and received his juris doctor from the University of Georgia Law School in 1961. Ben began his law career with the State Law Department of Georgia in the Attorney General’s office in Atlanta, where he rose to the position of assistant attorney general. In 1966 he joined the Atlanta law firm of Mitchell, Clarke, Pate & Anderson as an associate. Aside from a brief period serving as in-house counsel for Atlanta Federal Savings and Loan Association, Ben remained with the law firm until 1988, when he left to start his own firm, Johnson and Houston, with a focus on real estate law. He retired from the practice of law in 1994. Outside of his legal career, Ben enjoyed a wide range of activities, including being a long-time member of the US Army Reserve Service Pistol Team; among other notable individual and team achievements, he won the National All Army Reserve Pistol Championship in 1970. He retired from the Army Reserve in 1978 with the rank of major. A natural leader, Ben served as president of both the River Bend Gun Club in Dawsonville and the Georgia Sport Shooting Association. He also was a past president of the Atlanta Buckhead 50 Club. Ben joined the Masons in 1980 and was a member of the Masonic lodges in both Sandy Springs and Warrenton. He held multiple Masonic offices both at the local level and within the Fifth Masonic District Convention in Georgia, including serving for several years as the Fifth District Trustee for the Masonic Children’s Home in Macon, Georgia. Ben was also a member of and held various offices within Scottish Rite and the Yaarab Shrine Temple. Ben showed a strong musical inclination from an early age; his childhood piano teacher always said that he was the best student she ever had, and when she died he fulfilled her request that he play at her funeral service. While in college, he played piano with the Sheiks, a band that played fraternity and sorority dances and at local nightspots on weekends. Later in life, he shared his musical talents as an organist for the Grand Lodge of Georgia and as a member of the Entertainers Unit of the Yaarab Shrine Temple, as well as in impromptu performances at family weddings and other gatherings and occasions, during which he would display an admirable ability to play an expansive medley of popular and spiritual songs on piano without sheet music, and without pause. After retirement, Ben often played piano for the twice-monthly church services at Johnson United Methodist Church in Warrenton, and he also served as teacher for the church’s adult Sunday School class, being the fourth generation of his family to serve in that role. In 1996 he served as a volunteer during the Atlanta Summer Olympics. Ben was an avid reader throughout his life, favoring mysteries, legal thrillers, and histories, and he acquired many hundreds of books over the years. He also had a lifelong interest in Germany and the German language and would study German dictionaries in his leisure time, and he relished any opportunity to speak with German natives. A culmination of this interest was the two-week trip that he and Joan took to Europe in 1983, when they drove around Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands; at Ben’s insistence, they made few advance reservations for lodging, which gave them the freedom to alter their driving route as the mood struck. Ben was predeceased by his parents, Norman and Mauree, and his infant sister Faith. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Joan L. Johnson, and by their three children: Carole W. Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia; Russell N. Johnson (Mark D. Hudson) of Chicago, Illinois; and Arthur B. Johnson (Donna D. Ashley) of Atlanta, Georgia. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, February 19, in Moore Chapel at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta. A graveside service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, April 9, at Johnson Cemetery in Warrenton, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation may be made to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, or to Johnson Cemetery c/o Judy Johnson, 3312 Gibson Hwy, Warrenton, GA 30828. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------