William H. Johnson, Jr. passed from Covid complications on January 10, 2021 at age 89.  He was a resident at the Comprehensive Care Center in Lompoc, Calif.

He was predeceased by all 4 of his children; Dan, Greg, Rick and Susan B. Mawhorter. He is survived by his 2 grandsons, Joshua and Chad Mawhorter as well as his son-in-law, Brent Mawhorter. Bill also leaves behind his 3 youngest sisters, Barbara Gould and Carol Hernandez of Morgan Hill and Mary Johnson of San Jose. He was predeceased by five of his brothers and sisters.

Bill was born on August 9, 1933 in the Washington, D.C. area to his parents, William H. Johnson and Dorothy E. Ball Johnson. He is a descendant of George Washington.

He joined the US Air Force at the age of 17 and was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas where he excelled in telemetry.  His training continued in Bermuda where he met his future wife, Eleanor Carlson of Chicago.

After his Air Force tenure, he went to work at ITT where he spent time at the Dew Line.

In the early 1960s, ITT transferred Bill to Vandenberg Air Force Base. His position there was Chief of Instrumentation, where he worked on the original Project Mercury Space program along with John Glenn and the other 6 Astronauts.

At the prime of his career, age 35, an automobile accident resulted in the removal of a portion of his brain and an extreme life change. He had to relearn all basic skills in order to function in life.