A Celebration of the Life of Myron H. Johnson, Sr. November 14, 1925-July 5, 1997, "Rather than mourn the absence of the flame, let us celebrate how brightly it burned", Friday, July 11, 1997, 1:00pm, Sale Hall Chapel, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georga, The Reverend Sherry R. Austin Officiating

A Celebration of the Life of
Myron H. Johnson, Sr. November 14, 1925- July 5, 1997
"Rather than mourn the absence of the flame
Let us celebrate how Brightly it burned."

Dr. and Mrs. Howard Thurman Myron and Eloise Johnson San Francisco, CA
(Dr. Thurman is autographing his autobiography for the San Francisco Unified School District) OCT68

MYRON H. JOHNSON, SR.: SAYON
"They say that twin brothers are wiser than other children, and are practically magicians. As for the child that follows them, and who receives the name Sayan, that is, the younger brother of twins, he too is endowed with the gift of magic, and he is considered to be more powerful and more mysterious than the twins in whose lives he plays an important role. So if twins fall out, it is to the Sayon' s authority that one appeals to settle the matter; indeed, he is accredited with a wisdom greater than that of the twins, and is given a superior position. It goes without saying that his intervention is conducted, must be conducted, in the most tactful way."
Laye, Camara. THE DARK ClllLD: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN AFRICAN BOY. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1954. (Translated from the French by James Kirkup and Ernest Jones).
Myron Herman Johnson, Sr., the son of Mr. Willie Charlie Johnson and Mrs. Helen Mae Brown Johnson, who were married fifty nine years when she passed in 1980, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 14, 1925.
According to an Ancient African tradition, Myron was a Sayon, for he was born immediately after his identical twin brothers, Horace Willie Johnson and Horatious ("Ray") Charlie Johnson (1923-1997), whose middle names are from their father. {Their first names derive from that of Horus, the Ancient Egyptian god ofthe sun and of light). Myron's first name is from the Greek "myrrh," a valuable ancient source of rare perfume and incense. His middle name, "Herman" is an old German word meaning "warrior" .
His t\yin brothers and their "Baby Sister," Helen Mae Johnson {1926-1986), were all born on September 17th, making that day a very special one in their home.
In 1925, when Myron was born, Calvin Coolidge ("Silent Cal" was President'I baseball's Ty Cobb was lamenting that "most of the players are in the game for the money that's in it--not for the love...the excitement. ..the thrill of it I Marian Anderson was setting forth to become the first African American to sing at the White House and at the Metropolitan Opera House I the "Monkey Trial" of John Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee, was examining Darwin's Theory of Evolution I Duke Ellington was in New York City assuring that the Harlem Renaissance would be remembered I and New York's Radio City Music Hall was featuring the first of its famous Rockettes. I Dr. Charles Wesley was publishing his Negro Labor in the United States--the first scholarly examination of the nation's Black labor force in the post-slavery period; Nellie Taylor Ross ofWyoming was succeeding her late husband to become the nation's first woman governor I Henry Ford was pioneering assembly-line production of his Model T {"Tin Lizzie") cars and changing lifestyles all over the world I Josephine Baker, in her La Revue Negre, was
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Storekeeper Second Class: US Navy Great Lakes, IL 1940's
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wowing Paris with a wild new dance called "The Charleston"IAsa Philip Randolph was organizing The Brotherhood ofSleeping Car Porters I Ida Louise Jackson was the first African American teaching in Oakland, California's public schools I Louis Armstrong was revolqtionizing jazz by encouraging solo improvisation over ensemble playing; Long intermissions at Eugene 0 'Neill's innovative drama, Strange Interlude, were giving a boost to the first Howard Johnson Restaurant nearby I four young men from Pequa, Ohio, were, launching their career as The mills Brothers; Paul Robeson was making his film debut in Oscar Micheaux' "Body and Soul" The Exposition International des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris was popularizing and establish-ing the term "Art Deco"/ and James Buchanan ("Buck") Duke, founder of The American Tobacco Company, was paying $40 million to change the name of Trinity College to Duke University.
In 1925, the Urban League's Opportunity magazine was awarding literature prizes to Countee Cullen, Lanston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, young writers whose work Dr. Alain Locke, African America's first Rhodes Scholar, would anthologize in his book, The New Negro--one whom he defined as "a person of culture, good breeding, and refined artistic sensibilities...who looked toward a future bright with performance and achievement."
Also born in 1925 were: Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, former First Lady Barbara Bush, Macy Department Store's Kenneth Straus, Charles Schulz--creator of "Peanuts" comics, drummer Max Roach, and actress Angela Lansbury.
Myro1_1, the Sayon, attended Atlanta's William H. Crogman Elementary School, New York City's Fredeii.ck Douglass Junior High School, and Atlanta's Booker T. Washington Senior High School. While at Washington, he was also an active member of his family's Ariel Bowen United Methodist Church and of the Butler Street YMCA's Phalanx Fraternity, continuing his involvement throughout his college years and later.
Becoming an early civic activist during his high school days Myron successfully circulated a petition to pave Atlanta's Garabaldi Street, where he and his family lived in the Pittsburgh Section--named for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, because of its railroads. On his return to Atlanta after his retirement in San Francisco, Myron would help plan, in 1987, a Pittsburgh Community Reunion in that area's Pitman Park.
Always a courageous, and sometimes outrageous, risk-taker, Myron liked to laugh about his days as a youth in segregated Atlanta, when he and equally as adventurous friends would wear colorful turbans, develop an exotic lingo to assure their effectively communicating, and attend shows at downtown theaters. He had an uncanny ability to arrive late at a sold-out function and to find both tickets and seats.
In 1942, Myron enrolled at Morehouse College, where World War II interrupted his studies, drafting him to serve in the United States Navy at bases in Great Lakes, Illinois, and in Oakland, Califo:rnia. Myron returned to Atlanta to re-enter Morehouse College and to spend his summers working at Connecticut tobacco farms to supplement his income from the G.I. Bill of Rights. In those days, the fellows received 45 cents an hour for their work, and their Morehouse tuition was $45 per semester. They rode to Connecticut free, and their train fare was deducted from their first paychecks.
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A possessor of ashe' (or axe')--which Ancient Africans called "the ability to make things happen," Myron was a definite "People Person," who delighted in bringing others together in positive fellowship. Wherever he went, he sought persons who were Atlanta born and /or Atlanta-associated; and, at the end of his Connecticut summers would invite his Morehouse, Spelman, and other friends to organize a celebration before their return to Atlanta. Friends enjoying those festivities still reminisce fondly about them.
While at Morehouse, where he was a 1950 classmate ofNobel Prize recipient Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Myron met Eloise Vaughn McKinney, of Charlotte, North Carolina, on the Spelman camp1;1s, where she was a student in the class of 1947. On the day when they met, he was wearing a stunning shirt in maroon and white, the Morehouse colors. The shirt, designed and created for him by his mother's sister in New York, formed a big white letter "M'' at a distance and caused Eloise and three friends with her to ask him its history. Their conversation led to Myron's inviting them to his home for Saturday afternoon parties, with his arranging their transportation.
Eloise would become Mrs. Myron H. Johnson, Sr., on June 11, 1952, at Charlotte's Jane M . Smith Memorial church on the campus at Johnson C. Smith University, where her dad--a Morehouse Man married to a Spelmanite--was longtime Academic Dean. Myron had just earned the Master of Arts degree in Education at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta) and was principal of the Bailey Johnson (no relation) Consolidated-Elementary-Secondary School in Alpharetta. Georgia. Their wedding was significant, also, in that bridesmaid Amanda Louise Keith, Eloise's Spelman classmate and friend, met groomsman, Julius Brown Bailey, Myron's Morehouse classmate and friend . They were married the following year at Amanda's father's church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and will soon celebrate their forty-fifth anniversary.
In May, 1954, Nashville, Tennessee's George Peabody College for Teachers--termed "one of the most distinguished colleges of education in the world"--announced that it would admit "one post M.A. Negro graduate student from each of the fourteen Southern States"--students "to be selected by their State Departments of Education in cooperation.with the Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia. The announcement further stated: "All will be mature principals ofNegro schools who have shown ability, leadership, and promise."
The excellence ofMyron's work at Alpharetta led to his being chosen one of the first fourteen African Americans to integrate Peabody College. Nelson Bryan has recalled this historic event in an article, "The Barriers Fell: Peabody's First Black Students Became Educational Leaders," in The Peabody Rejlector.(Vol. 61, No. 2), Summer, 1990 wherein he says:
Johnson entered Peabody as a full-time student in an off campus independent study project in 1956. He earned his bachelor's degree at Morehouse College, his master's degree at Atlanta University, and had done further graduate studies at New York University and Harvard University.
Upon his receipt of the Specialist in Education degree at Peabody, in 1957, Myron accepted a faculty position at the Atlanta University School ofEducation.
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Nashville, TN: George Peabody College
August 1957
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The stresses oftheir careers (for she was working full-time, too) led to the Johnsons' first divorce and Myron's return to San Francisco, where he became a teacher and, subsequently, an administrator in the San Francisco Unified School District.
On June 11, 1965 (June 11th twice chosen because it was her parents' wedding date in 1924), Myron and Eloise remarried in San Francisco , and she moved there to join him and their son, Myron, Jr.
Shortly after her arrival, Myron and Eloise had an unnerving experience. Myron, then a school counselor, had confronted a truant teen-ager from another school and learned, upon questioning, that the teen-ager was, also named Myron Johnson--and could prove it. A few weeks later, they would learn ofthe young truant's death when he had gone into the auditorium of another school, sought to swing on the stage curtains and, unwittingly, triggered a mechanism that lifted him high above the stage and caused him to fall to his death. He was close in age to the Johnsons' son, Myron, Jr.
Still another Myron Johnson--an adult San Franciscan--called to complain about the many 2:00A.M. telephone calls he was receiving from Morehouse Men passing through who just wanted to say, "Hello."
From 1965-1967, Myron served as Project Head of San Francisco's In-School Neighborhood Youth Corps--a title doubling his work and tripling his tensions at the same salary; for he was not to=receive the higher salary designated for that position in the project's proposal if he wanted to retain his tenure and retirement benefits.
During this period, Myron had become President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Morehouse College National Alumni Association and was, also, promoting the development of Spelman and Atlanta University Alumni Chapters. The annual "Cocktail Sips"-with-dancing of the Morehouse Chapter during the years of his leadership became major events of the Black Bay Area's Social Season and raised over $100,000 in scholarship funds for Morehouse students, funds which attest to the integrity of their handling. "Plan your work, then work your plan," was one of his basic tenets.
In night clubs, bars, or cabarets, he would avoid potential confrontations by cautioning those with him to "Stay with your party." In other words, "Don't wander among strangers who may misinterpret your actions."
Regarding home entertaining, he recommended: "Don't sleep on your party," meaning: "Clean up before you go to bed." (The job would be easier and less timeconsuming).
As President of the San Francisco Morehouse Men, Myron spearheaded the production of a wellattended, marvelously memorable Morehouse Centennial Banquet at Oakland's elegant old Claremont Hotel, on May 19, 1967, with distinguished theologian Dr. Howard Thurman (Morehouse '23) as speaker. The mayors of Oakland and of San Francisco officially proclaimed the period ofMay 14-19, 1967, as "Morehouse Centennial Observance Week," and Oakland's Mayor John Redding issued a special resolution.
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San Francisco, CA Myron & Eloise McKinney Johnson
Dr. M.L. King, Jr. Dr. Gustavous L. & Mrs. (Dorothy Collins) Geiger
of Atlanta, GA. MLK visits Oakland 1967
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Also in 1967, Myron served on the San Francisco Schools' Curriculum Commission, working under the guidance of Dr. John Hope Franklin to prepare a text, The Negro in American Life and History, "dedicated to the belief that the American ideal ofbrotherhood can be more fully achieved if the life and place ofNegroes in American history is told with candor."
In 1969, the Bay Area's Morehouse Men paid tribute to Dr. Thurman--again under Myron's leadership as president--with a gala luncheon at San Francisco's famous Fairmont Hotel-AtopNob-Hill.
When Dr. Thurman passed in 1984, Myron was a member of the Honor Guard at his Memorial Service at San Francisco's First Unitarian Church.
In the Bay Area, Myron was, also, active in the Jones Memorial United Methodist Church, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the Golden Gate Democrat Club, the Urban League, the NAACP (of which he was a LIFE member), and the Howard Thurman Trust.
During the 1970-1974 period, Myron and Eloise were divorced again, and he took a Personal Leave from the San Francisco Unified School District to engage in other educational activities.
In 1970-1971, he was Project Director of an HEW-funded Educational Opportunities Clearing House for PACT (Plan of Action for Changing Times).
In 1971-1972, he studied at Stanford University, receiving there a second Master's degree in "Organizational Studies and Educational Administration" in June, 1973 . He was, also an Education Project Specialist for the California State Department of Education and a "Right-toRead" Consultant.
Believing with George Peabody, founder of Peabody College, that "Education is a debt due from present to future generations," he became a Secondary School Administrator for the American Overseas Schools in Okinawa under the United States Department ofDefense, in 1973-1974.
Throughout his California sojourn, Myron was a reporter for JET magazine and a consultant for EBONY magazine, canvassing and recommending EBONY's "Best Dressed" celebrities and "Most Eligible Bachelors and Bachelorettes." He delighted in having been a "Top Fashion Plate at Morehouse" in the Spring of 1948 and in displaying the photograph that appeared in the Fall, 1970, issue of The Morehouse College Bulletin. Those who posed are still proud. He was one of Ebony's "Eligible Bachelors," too.
The San Francisco Board of Education ended his leaves-of absence in 1975, and Myron returned to remain until 1983, when he took an early retirement to return to Atlanta to assist his parents and his sister, who were ailing.
The San Francisco Sun Reporter's Rochelle Metcalfe, writing her article, "I Heard That," January 11, 1990, recalled:
Myron is originally from Atlanta but moved to our fair city in 1958 and worked as an educator and contributed significantly of his talent and creativity to this community. When mentioning his name to someone, they said there been a void since he left, for there's been no one to replace him... He's a great person.
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Commencement at the University of Santa Clara Santa Clara, CA August 1967
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Until her passing, in 1983, Edith Austin, the Sun Reporter's political pundit, and often hilariously irreverent writer of weekly "Bay Bits," would summon Myron Johnson, along with her other "Main Horses"--the Bay Area's top African American professional men--to "prance" in performance at annual fund-raising breakfasts that she held to promote favorite candidates and, also, to promote Oakland's East Bay Skills Center, where she directed the Office of Community Relations. San Francisco's current Mayor Willie Brown (who delivered her eulogy) and California's Congressman Ron Dellums were, also, her "Horses," and Myron frequently appeared with them in fashion shows and other programs promoting civic causes.
San Francisco's Lois Brookins (Mrs. Donald) D'Archambeau warmly remembers how she, Myron, and San Francisco's Willie Brown (now Mayor Brown) toured local bars together to solicit funds for 1960's Civil Rights demonstrations and the generous donations they received. Another participant during that era refers to Myron as "Mr. Civil Rights."
True to his astrological sign, Scorpio, Myron refused to accommodate whatever he deemed unjust or unfair. He would speak up even though he knew that he might be dismissed from his job or suffer otherwise. On one occasion he refused to be photographed with California's then Governor Ronald Reagan because he rejected the principles that Reagan represented. He weathered storms that would have destroyed lesser spirits; and those arousing his wrath could know the pain of his Scorpion sting.
On his return to Atlanta in 1983, Myron accepted the position ofDirector of Annual and Planned Giving at his Morehouse alma mater. At that time, he stated:
I know most of the students who were here during the 1940's and 1950's, and since my son was here and graduated in the 1970's, I have met many of his schoolmates. I will use a personal approach to this new position because of my familiarity with most of the alumni locally and nationally. One of my goals is to establish a Morehouse National Network which will facilitate communication between Morehouse College and Alumni everywhere. (Morehouse College: February 27, 1984).
Press releases announcing this appointment noted that Myron had served several years as President of the San Francisco Bay Area Morehouse Chapter; two years as Western Regional Vice President of the Morehouse National Alumni Association; and two terms as First National Vice-President-at-Large of the National Association.
In addition to his work with various Morehouse groups, Myron continued his participation in the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity--where he, also, held a LIFE membership--the NAACP, the Urban League, the Atlanta Club of Frontiers International, Inc., and several other organizations. His walls hold many plaques and other expressions of appreciation for his contributions. In 1985, he ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat on the Atlanta Board of Education.
At various times, he was a member of the following organizations:
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MYRON H. JOHNSON - AFFILIATIONS Profession-al Affiliations:
+ American Association of School Administrators + Phi Delta Kappa (Professional Fraternity for Men in Education) + San Francisco Association for Gifted Children + The San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators + Urban School Administrators of San Francisco + United Administrators of San Francisco + California Association for the Gifted + The Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists
Alumni Association Affiliations:
+ George Peabody College National Alumni Association + Morehouse College Local and National Alumni Association (Life Member) + Atlanta University Local and National Alumni Association + Stanford Local and National Alumni Association (Life Member)
Civic and Community Affiliations:
+ United States Congressional Advisory Board + Black American Political Association of California + San Francisco Black Leadership Forum
+ Golden Gate Democratic Club + Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons
+ National Urban League, Inc. + African American Historical and Cultural Society of San Francisco + People United To Save Humanity (PUSH)
+ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Life
Member)
+ Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (Life Member) + Association of Black Educational Administrators of San Francisco
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Myron adored his grandson, Myron H. Johnson, III, for whom he wore his best three-piece suit to bid a hearty welcome-to-the-world at San Francisco's Children's Hospital on April 17, 1983. One of his delights was to take toddler Myron to visit relatives in New York City, Cleveland, and elsewhere.

On March 29th, Myron, Jr.'s birthday in 1992, he journeyed to Atlanta to assist his father who had developed symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. Friends and relatives on both East and West Coasts, especially the men of Morehouse, rallied with helpful medical, legal, and financial advice. Together, the two selected a caretaking residence, while Myron, Jr., assumed
responsibility for their Atlanta home.

In his prime, Myron served as a representative for Atlanta's Henderson Travel Agency, arranging for West Coast high-schoolers and their parents to visit Morehouse and the other Atlanta colleges and participating in tours that took him to the Caribbean Islands, to Europe,
Africa, Asia, and South America--along with most of the United States. An avid philumenist (match book collector), he was not a smoker but sought covers wherever he went and placed them in a big glass bowl on his coffee table to inspire conversation. He, also, kept a map of the world upon his wall and used pins with heads of different colors to indicate areas where he had traveled. In many ways, he embodied the words of Paul Anka's song, "My Way:"

I've lived a life that's full, I've traveled each and ev'ry highway, And more, much more than this, I did it My Way

Sayon Myron H. Johnson, Sr., and his son, Myron, Jr. ("Jay Jay") are both Myron Herman Johnsons. Grandson Myron H. Johnson, III, is Myron Howard Johnson, his "H'' being the maiden name of his mother, Shirley Jean Howard Johnson, a San Francisco resident.

During the 1993 Commencement Season in Atlanta, the members of Myron, Sr.' s Morehouse College Class of 1950 presented him "An Appreciation Award"--a maroon colored plaque with white lettering, the Morehouse seal-with flaming torch and the Morehouse motto: "Etfacta est
lux' ("The truth is the light."), honoring him as:

Educator, Community Leader, Loyal Supporter of Morehouse, Former Alumni

Vice President, Chapter President and Leader of the establishment of the

Morehouse San Francisco Scholarship Fund.

May 16, 1993

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Rather than mourn the absence of the flame,
Let us celebrate how brightly it burned.

The End.

(Text here researched and compiled by Eloise McKinney Johnson, San Francisco, California. All rights reserved.)

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Myron Herman Johnson, Sr., Myron Herman Johnson, Jr., and Myron Howard Johnson, ill
Morehouse College May 1993
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Knowledge
Burning Torch
The Torch is an ancient S)'J!lbol of spiritual light and mental uplift; and it represents the essence of the Morehouse College motto: "Etfacta est lux," "The truth is the light." It is a concentrated form of fire, purifying and enlightening. The Torch has a characteristic flame, flickering in a way that seems to bring its surroundings to life. Thus; it is often carried in processions, demonstrations and political rallies. A Torch pointed upward symbolizes life: pointed downward, it symbolizes death. The passing of The Torch is the most significant activity at the beginning of the Olympic Games; for it assures continuity in our lives. Rather than mourn the absence of the flame in the torch of Myron H. Johnson, Sr., let us celebrate how brightly it burned.
The family requests contributions be made to "The Myron H. Johnson, Sr. Scholarship Fund" c/o Morehouse College, Office ofInstitutional Advancement, 830 Westview Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30314.
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