Category: 1954

James (“Jim, Brother or Rock”) McDaniel Johnson, 82, of Dunn, North Carolina died on August 19th in Asheville, North Carolina. He was the youngest child of Nathan Manly Johnson, Sr. and Elizabeth (“Bessie”) Denning Johnson of Dunn.

He is survived by his beloved and devoted wife of fifty nine years, Elizabeth (“Betty”) Morrison Johnson, four children, Elizabeth (“Lisa”) Johnson Bondurant (Stuart) of Atlanta, Georgia, James Morrison Johnson of Phoenix, Arizona, Laura Johnson Frey (Jim) of Putney, Vermont, and Allen McDaniel Johnson of High Point, North Carolina.

He is also survived by eight grandchildren whom he loved dearly, Will, Ben, Beth and James (“Bear”) Bondurant, Katherine Frey Ellison (Nichol), Maya Johnson, Grant Johnson and Morgan McDaniel Johnson; a sister, Jackie Johnson Bissette, sisters in law, Helen Soutter and Jane Waddell, and numerous nieces and nephews.

He graduated from Dunn High School in 1950, Davidson College in 1954 and The University of North Carolina Law School in 1957. He was admitted to the North Carolina State Bar in August of 1957 and practiced briefly before serving as a legal officer in the Army Judge Advocate Generals Corp.

He was released from active duty in the fall of 1959 and returned home to resume his law practice and to participate in the management of his father’s business, Johnson Cotton Company and later Johnson Stores. He practiced law in Dunn from 1959 until retirement in July of 2014.

Jim was active in the civic affairs of Dunn and Harnett County. He served as Chair of the Dunn United Fund Campaign in 1960, and as Chair in numerous other charitable fund drives in Dunn and Harnett County.

From 1959 through 1968, he served gratuitously as counsel to the Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital, a local charitable hospital founded by his father and named in memory of his grandmother.

He was an avid private pilot and a charter member of the Harnett County Airport Committee that was charged with the responsibility of developing an airport for Harnett County. He was instrumental in securing the original airport site for the airport by private purchase rather than by condemnation proceedings.

He was also active in the affairs of his profession. He was a President and member of the Harnett County Bar Association and Vice President of the 11th Judicial District Bar.

He served for six years as a member of the North Carolina State Bar Council and for fourteen years as a member of the 11th Judicial Bar Review. Jim was a devoted and life-long member of the Divine Street United Methodist Church. At Divine Street, he served as legal counsel, Sunday School Teacher, Usher, Chair of the Church Council, several terms as a member of the Board of Trustees and as the initial Chair of the Endowment Fund.

A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 on Saturday, August 29, 2015 at Divine Street United Methodist Church, 400 West Divine Street in Dunn, with Reverend Beth Gaines officiating. The family will greet friends and family at their home, 907 W. Pearsall Street, following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests a contribution to Divine Street Methodist Church or a charity or educational institution of your choice.

Dr. William S. Michael of Los Gatos, age 82, passed away peacefully in the early hours of June 2, 2015. “Mike” or “Doc” or “Bill” grew up the youngest of three sons in Jackson, a small, largely Welsh town in southern Ohio. He attended Kentucky Military Institute in order to play high school basketball and won one of the first-ever basketball scholarships to Davidson College, before transferring to Ohio Wesleyan University.

His years at Ohio Wesleyan were important ones, marked by the formation of lifelong friendships with his Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers, meeting and courting his wife-to-be, and leading the Battling Bishops’ basketball team (twice captain and three times MVP).

In 1983, he was inducted into OWU’s Athletics Hall of Fame. After graduating in 1954, he married Florence “Flo” Murphy (1955) and earned his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati (1958). He and Flo moved their young family to California in the early 1960s, where he practiced family medicine in Saratoga and San Jose for more than forty years.

Helping others was always his deepest instinct, and he loved seeing families grow up under his care. Family and friends remember his tenderness for all creatures, his lovely tenor voice, his beautiful garden, his mischievous sense of humor, his listening ear and ready helping hand.

After college, Dr. Michael’s competitive interests turned to handball and golf and bridge, all of which he played regularly for many years. He was also a longtime member of Saratoga Federated Church and the Saratoga Mens’ Club.

Dr. Michael is survived by his three daughters, Jennifer L. Michael, Kristen E. Michael and her partner John B. Pope, and Shannon (Michael) Farrell and her husband Edward J. Farrell; numerous nieces and nephews; and his faithful dog, Sparky.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, June 27, at 2 p.m., at Saratoga Federated Church. A reception will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Humane Society Silicon Valley or Hospice of the Valley or Alzheimer’s Association, would be welcome.

Andrew Johnson Courts died on Sunday, May 3, 2015, after an extended illness. A celebration of life service will be held on Tuesday, May 5, at 2 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Courts was born in Rockingham County in 1931, the son of Robert Benjamin and Nancy Johnson Courts.

He attended Davidson College on a baseball and football scholarship and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine after graduation. He interned at Jackson Hospital at the University of Miami in Miami, FL, and completed a residency in Psychiatry at North Carolina Memorial Hospital and a residency in child psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center.

He served as a captain in the army and was stationed at Munson Army Hospital at Fort Leavenworth, KS, where he received a Medal of Commendation. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro and served as a deacon and president of the Agape Sunday school class.

Dr. Courts is survived by his wife, Nancy Fleming Courts, sons Andrew Johnson Courts, Jr. and his wife Louise, William Fleming Courts, and Robert Benjamin Courts; two grandsons, Benjamin Tyler Courts and Cotesworth Pinckney Courts. He was preceded in death by his four brothers and is survived by his sister, Dr. Sara Courts McClure. He also survived by two sisters-in-law and many nieces and nephews.

He maintained a lifetime interest in collecting primitive blacksmith and agricultural tools. Portions of Dr. Courts’ collections can be viewed in museums around the region. A farmer at heart, he planted a vegetable garden every summer and shared the bounty freely.

Memorials may be directed to the Children’s Hope Alliance in Statesville, Greensboro Urban Ministry, or the charity of ones’ choice.