Edward D. Johnson

Obituary for Edward D. Johnson
Written by Edward D. Johnson

Our citizenship is in heaven and so Reverend Edward D. Johnson, known as Father Ted
went to the Lord on September 24, 2024 in Dacula, Georgia. He was born April 11, 1929 in
Macon, Georgia. In 1935, the Johnson family, Maxwelton and Mary D., with their five boys
moved to Portsmouth, Rhode Island to be closer to family due to Mary’s father’s poor health and
the effects of the depression.

Fr. Ted attended public grammar schools and did well. In 8 th grade winning 4 awards,
allowed him to win a four-year scholarship to the prestigious Abbey of St. Gregory Boarding and
Prep School in Portsmouth. In his last year at the Abbey, due to the tremendous presence of the
English Benedictine Monks, Father Ted decided to go to the Seminary to become a priest for the
Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island.

In February of 1955, he was ordained and served in two parishes before being chosen by
Bishop Russell J. McVinney to serve as a Navy Chaplain. Fr. Ted’s first assignment, because of
his maturity as a priest of 10 years, was Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where he remained both prior to
and after volunteering to go to Vietnam near the DMZ fighting area. He tells the story of riding
with his rifle in Phu-Bai Rei a week before the mortar attack on the base in January 1968.

Following his service in Vietnam, he went to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi,
Texas where he served for two tours. At that time, he was blessed to take care of his mother and
father in their declining years. He was again assigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but for only 7
months due to his father’s death and his need to tend to his mother. Following his mother’s death
in 1970, he was asked by the Air Force Chaplain at Newport Naval Station, John J. O’Connor, to
stay on as Chaplain to the Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island until 1972. Father Ted was
then sent by now Chief of Chaplains, John. J. O’Connor, to Naval Station in Jacksonville,
Florida as the Senior Chaplain to the many destroyers and 3 aircraft carriers stationed at Mayport
Base. In August 1974, he was chosen to return to Newport to earn a degree in Supervisory
Education sponsored by Boston University in Newport. However, realizing his involvement in
Navy and Marine work had amounted to 17 years and his desire to become a pastor in Rhode
Island, entered the Inactive Naval Reserve and returned to the diocese.

In April 1975, Father Ted was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Church in North Scituate,
Rhode Island where he remained for 16 years and then as pastor of St. Anthony Church in
Portsmouth where he grew up. In May 1996, he had a slight heart attack actually driving to the
hospital himself! In 1997, Bishop Louis E. Gelineau allowed Father Ted to retire – or as Father
Ted would say “semi-retire” and shortly thereafter, he moved back to Georgia.

He wasn’t ready to return to his family with three brothers and family living in
Lawrenceville. Bishop Boland of Savannah asked him to help out in St. William on Saint Simons
Island Georgia where he remained for four happy years. One day, Bishop Bouland invited him
for lunch asking Father Ted if he would be the Priest in charge of the mission of St. Paul Church
in Douglas, Georgia. This church just happened to be the mission of St. Williams Church in
Fitzgerald, Georgia the town where his brother, Dr. Richard Johnson first started teaching and the
home of Richard’s beautiful wife, Shirley Pope Johnson. He remained there one year and then
returned to his family in 2005 living in his own small condo right off Georgia 20 in
Lawrenceville. Right away he assisted at St. Lawrence Church, his family’s parish, where Dr.
Richard Johnson had been a Deacon. Shortly after, Father Ted was called to assist Fr. Jaime
Barona who was busy trying to build the present St. Matthew Church in Winder. He heard
Saturday confessions and did Saturday Mass there for a few years.

When Father Ted’s doctor advised him to no longer live alone, he moved to the Garden
Plaza in Lawrenceville, with the help of his two beautiful sisters in law, Shirley and Phyllis. He
remained there as a Catholic Chaplain for the independent living, the assisted living known as
the bridge and the Life Care communities. In 2019, Father Ted moved to the Arbor Terrace in
Dacula, Georgia where he spent his final years.