Paul Johnson

Paul Gant Johnson was born in Sprigg, West Virginia in the leap year of 1932 on that rarest of days, February 29. He died on September 14, 2021 at age 89, though on each birthday he gleefully counted his age at only one-quarter that number. He enjoyed tremendous success managing complex engineering operations for Ingersoll-Rand Corporation (IR) in the Eastern US, Europe, Japan, South Africa, Brazil and India. But his greatest pleasure was found in spending time with his family. Paul never met a stranger and was always quick to laugh and find common ground wherever he traveled. He was not a man of moderation and consumed vast amounts of books and magazines, especially on all things mechanical and automotive. He loved great food, wine, music and entertainment and was always the sharpest dressed man in the room. His voracious love for sports cars was an obsession throughout his life. Paul was the first child born to Pearl Edith Bench of Bristol, Virginia and Harvard Parks Johnson of Singleton Township, Mississippi. He was the namesake of his grandfather who was murdered in 1899 in Winston County, Mississippi under circumstances that remain mysterious to this very day. His father, known as H.P. or Johnny, was a self-taught mechanical wizard and electrical engineer. His mother essentially parented her brothers and sisters, and was a business school graduate, master seamstress and woman of extraordinary kindness and generosity. During the years of rural electrification, the family traveled throughout Virginia and West Virginia where Johnny worked to build and operate hydroelectric power plants. Their travels took them to Roanoke, Virginia to build a power plant there as Paul attended Cave Spring Elementary School. Paul’s inability to swim became local legend as he regularly rode his tricycle into the deep end of the swimming pool. He would later claim that every kid in town owed him their life-saving merit badges. In 1944, the family moved to Rich Creek, Virginia, where Johnny played a key role in operating the Appalachian Power Company’s Glen Lyn Unit 5 in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the New River. Paul attended school in nearby Narrows, Virginia where he excelled in football as a running back with the Narrows “Green Wave.” “Bull” Johnson, as he was known, attended the College of William & Mary on an athletic scholarship and later transferred to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and took great pride as a member of the ROTC Corps of Cadets. During those years, he would often hitchhike to Sweet Briar College in Amherst to visit his hometown sweetheart Carole Livingston Dillow. His safe passage usually meant ditching his Virginia Tech sweater for more neutral apparel so University of Virginia men would give him rides to Amherst. In 1952 they eloped to marry and settle in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their first child, John, was born the next year and their daughter Margaret 2 ½ years later. As a mechanical engineer, he began his career with IR in Athens, Pennsylvania, building air compressors used in heavy construction. He moved through the ranks of management, to the company’s Painted Post, New York plant and was soon assigned to construct a new manufacturing plant in Roanoke, Virginia, bringing his travels full circle. In the early 1970’s he moved the family to Tokyo and managed IR’s manufacturing operations in Japan. From there, his travels broadened to include assignments on virtually every continent. He built a reputation on being able to fix the unfixable problems in machine design, manufacture and repair by getting his hands dirty in the field and insisting on firsthand experience. Upon his return from an assignment in Sao Paulo Brazil he was managing director of IR’s Mocksville, NC operation until his retirement. Paul is survived by his beloved wife, Carole Dilllow Johnson, son John Johnson and his wife Terri Morris of Charlottesville, VA, and daughter Margaret and Jim Wray of Rescue, Virginia. He is also survived by his grandchildren Carlton Caldwell, Gillian Turner, John Turner and wife Emily, and great-grandchildren Caitlin, Riley, Logan, Rachael, John Austin and Lincoln. He is also survived by his beloved brother Charles E. and Susan Johnson of Centreville, Maryland; their children Patrick Johnson and his wife Tammy, daughter Madison and sons Owen and Charlie; Stephen Johnson and his wife Ali, daughters Ryan, Sophie and son Joey; and Whitney Herzog and her daughter Sadie Pearl.