Harry Locke Johnson, Jr., of Mount Pleasant, died on March 1, 2022 at his home surrounded in his last days by family and faithful caregivers. Harry was born on March 5, 1929 in Charleston, South Carolina, the eldest child of Eulalie Campbell and Harry Locke Johnson, Sr. He attended Mrs. Watts’ kindergarten until he entered the Craft School in second grade. Harry graduated from Charleston High School in 1945, which only went through eleventh grade at the time and subsequently completed his twelfth educational year, graduating from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia before graduating from The Citadel in 1950. Harry was a Lieutenant in the Army Reserve from 1950-1960. He joined Johnson and Johnson Insurance Company as a trainee in 1950 and became president in 1979 overseeing the family business until 2002. Harry had a love of the ocean and creeks and spent a great deal of his youth at his family’s beach house on Sullivan’s Island, where he could often be found fishing, throwing a seine or waterskiing. Affectionately known by generations of locals as “Captain Harry,” he had an innumerable fishing family that was cultivated throughout the years. Harry’s boat was christened Petrel, after a bird that flies far from land, apt for his lifelong love of deep-sea fishing that he instilled in a younger generation. There is a long list of extremely good fishermen in Charleston who learned how to be anglers because of Harry. He had a commitment to conservation in fishing, promoting catch and release before it was customary and was committed to preserving natural resources for ensuing generations. Harry was also an avid reader and had an extensive library filled with books on topics ranging from WWII history to marine life to current fiction. Harry was an integral and active part of his extended family, always leading with an open curiosity and a spirit of generosity of heart, acknowledging every new marriage and birth with a card if they lived away or by his presence when close to home. He was known to be a true gentleman, an engaging conversationalist, and he retained his youthful good looks until the end of his life. Harry was a life-long member of Grace (Episcopal) Church Cathedral, where he served on the Vestry from 1950-1952 and again from 1963-1965. He was a member of the Carolina Yacht Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Bachelor’s Society, the St. Andrews Society and St. Cecelia. Harry is survived by his brother, Robert Campbell Johnson, Sr. (Scottie Small); sister, Barbara Johnson Baker (Archie); nieces and nephews: Barbara Baker Pendergrast (Tommy), Archie E. Baker, IV (Earlene), Ann Baker Thomas, Frances “Frannie” Baker Reese (Tim), Blair Johnson, Francis Gailliard Johnson, and Harry Locke Johnson III (Caroline); great-nieces and nephews: Barbara Thomas Volk (Ben), Bissell Pendergrast Landis (Jack), Elizabeth Morgan Thomas (Justin), Ashley Ann Baker, Charles McLain Reese, Thomas Jefferson Pendergrast III, Archie E. Baker V, Ann “Annie” Frances Reese, Baker Middleton Reese, Robert “Rob” Campbell Johnson, III, (Ann Darby), James Blair Johnson, Francis Gaillard Johnson, Jr, (Jamie), Sallie Scott Johnson (fiance; Sam), Harriet “Hattie” Johnson Hughes (Harrison), Elizabeth “Liza” Hampden Johnson, Harry Locke Johnson III and Peter Cordes Porcher Johnson; great-great-nieces and nephews; Legare Clark Johnson, Robert Campbell Johnson IV, Olivia Rose Janos, Mackenzie Elizabeth Volk and Maverick Nathaniel Volk. He was predeceased by his nephew, Robert “Robbie” Johnson, Jr.; niece, Dicksie Johnson; and great-nephew, Timothy Michael Reese. Harry is also survived by Thomas Robert Wynne, Jr., to whom Harry was a father figure and who fished with Harry beginning in the early 1980s, (Janna Gibbs Wynne), Thomas Robert Wynne III (Meg), Asa Gibbs Wynne (Taylor) and Thomas Robert Wynne, IV. The family would like to thank his devoted caregivers: Keyka Smith, Clare Heslin, Seilia Jenkins, Rosemary Blevins and Norma Jean Levine. The funeral service will be held in Grace (Episcopal) Church Cathedral on Monday, March 7, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. with a reception following in Hanahan Hall. The burial following the reception will be private. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Downtown Chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth St., Charleston, SC 29401; The Smile Train, PO Box 96231, Washington, DC 20090-6231; or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105. A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.
Posted in: Post and Courier
Posted on: 2022-03-04
Link to original obituary: https://obits.postandcourier.com/us/obituaries/charleston/name/harry-johnson-obituary?id=33496662