- Lloyd W. Johnson, Sr. was honored by Alachua and Marion counties for his decades of leadership, farming and education service in Evinston.
- Johnson built Mount Olive A.M.E. Church, chaired a local African American school, and drove a Marion County school bus starting in 1944.
- The Florida Civil Rights Museum unveiled a historic marker and a road was named Lloyd W. Johnson Sr. Memorial Avenue in his honor.
Alachua County and Marion County officials gathered Saturday at Mount Olive A.M.E. Church in Evinston to honor Lloyd W. Johnson, Sr. and his decades of leadership and service for both communities.
Johnson Sr. built the church’s original building along with the one still used today. With his brothers, he cultivated over 100 acres of peanuts, eggplant, corn and other crops and also worked as an electrician, plumber, chair of the African American school that met for a time at the church and then a school bus driver.
He was driving his and neighboring children to school in his own car before being hired to drive the number 23 bus for the Marion County school system in 1944. His commitment to education ensured each of his children attended college, speakers said.
Johnson lived in Evinston, an unincorporated community on the border of Alachua and Marion counties, from 1905 until 1982, when he died, leaving behind seven children and a lasting legacy.
The ceremony included an unveiling for both a memorial road designation and the first historic placard in Alachua County from the Florida Civil Rights Museum. Local leaders praised Johnson’s commitment to education, willingness to sow the soil and feed the surrounding areas and steadfastness to Evinston.
Two of his grandsons, Wayne Sellers and Curtis Taylor, said Johnson’s values impacted families all around the area and that his parenting model might need reviving.
Sellers said he would walk behind Johnson’s tractor and planter as a warning.
“Whenever the planter got clogged with dirt, I would yell, ‘Granddad!’ He would stop the tractor. I would unclog the planter and put the peanuts back in, and he would continue planting,” Sellers recalled.
He said Johnson Sr. also opened the door for him to enter the funeral business at Dorsey’s Funeral Home in Gainesville. Decades later, Sellers continues in the industry along with his children at Sellers Funeral Home in Ocala.
Looking back, his grandfather’s work as a farmer, electrician, handyman and chair of a small school was more than earning a living, Sellers said.
“He planted straight roads in the field, but he also planted values—faith, hard work, integrity, and love into the lives of those around him,” Sellars said.
Hard work also comes to mind for Taylor when recalling life in the “big house.” Where the grandparents, aunts and uncles and grandkids lived together. He said a “sick day” meant helping grandpa in the field. Because of that, Taylor, president and CEO of Tallahassee Urban League, said he’s not taken a sick day in decades of work.
In a series of anecdotes, Taylor caused the church to echo with laughter, telling how he and his sister would ensure the other got even treatment from grandpa’s paddle.
He said the family had three alarm clocks: the rooster, grandma cooking breakfast and grandpa entering the bedroom with a switch because they weren’t all ready for their morning chores.
It was great parenting, Taylor said.
Anyone who wanted to date one of Johnson’s daughters had to come and present themselves in the house and answer questions about who he was, who his parents were and what he wanted to do in life.
To go to the dance with one, a boy would drive up to the house, get into the backseat and let Johnson, armed with his bus driver’s cap, chauffeur the couple to and from the dance.
Taylor said it’s parenting that would be worth reviving in a day when many parents don’t know who their kids are hanging out with and kids lack a list of chores to keep them busy.
State Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, Alachua County commissioners Chuck Chestnut and Ken Cornell, Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward, Marion County Public Schools Superintendent Danielle Brewer and chair of the Marion County School Board Sarah James all spoke, giving proclamations in Johnson’s honor.
In July, the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners approved the honorary naming of SE 185th Avenue as Lloyd W. Johnson Sr. Memorial Avenue and the signs are already marking the route.
The Florida Civil Rights Museum also unveiled a historic marker at the church telling of Johnson’s role in the community, along with that of his wife, Eddie Lee Batts Johnson.
“I must pause and acknowledge my grandmother, Mrs. Eddie Lee Batts Johnson, for being the backbone of my grandfather, standing beside him throughout the years. Their partnership was an important part of the legacy we celebrate today,” Sellers said.
A host of grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren packed the church with dignitaries and long-time family friends.
