Obituary of Robert Charles Johnson

Mr. Robert Charles Johnson, 87, of Vrooman Road, Centerville passed away at 9:30 PM on Thursday, December 8, 2011, at his home. Mr. Johnson was born on August 1, 1924, in Warren to the late Arthur R. and Marjorie Myers Johnson. He married Bonnie Hopkins on June 16, 1951. Mrs. Johnson preceded him in death on October 7, 2002. He attended the Maple Grove School at Vrooman Corners which he later came to own. He was a 1942 graduate of Titusville High School where he played varsity football for the Titusville Rockets. Mr. Johnson served in the U.S. Army, from 1943, until he was honorably discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant in 1945. He saw action near the Battle of the Bulge and later was with the 310th Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division (the “Lightning Division”) that first crossed the Rhine into the heartland of Germany via the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagan on March 8th in 1945. Wounded several weeks later in the German village of Erpel, he was awarded the Purple Heart. Upon his recuperation, he attended and graduated from The University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Business Administration. After his schooling Mr. Johnson worked in local oil fields, and later he helped lay the natural gas pipeline that connected the gas fields of Sharon to those of Buffalo, often working in mud up to his waist. He then went to work for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. He was last employed for forty years with Universal Cyclops Specialty Steel and Universal Stainless where he worked as a grinder and in the maintenance department at the time of his retirement. Mr. Johnson served on the School Board of Rome Township and was a member and elder of the Rometown United Presbyterian Church and later the First Presbyterian Church of Titusville, where he was an active member of the Lee Green Class. On his farm in Rome Township he raised beef cattle and loved his woods. He was an avid hunter and fisherman as well as a kind and generous neighbor who regularly, and eagerly helped anyone who needed his assistance. He loved his family, his church, his farm, and his country. He is survived by two children, a daughter, Lynn Johnson Cressman (married to the Rev. Dr. Barry E. Cressman) and a son, Bret A. Johnson, both of Titusville; his grandchildren, the “apples of his eye” include Tye Johnson Cressman, an attorney in Meadville and his wife Meghan, Leigh Etta Cressman, a German instructor in Minneapolis, MN, and Toby Jay Cressman, a mechanical engineer, of Titusville; two sisters, Jerry Kubiak and her husband Bob of Erie, Priscilla Johnson of Saegertown; a brother, Don Johnson of Newark, OH; two sisters-in-law, Esther Hopkins and Dorothy Hopkins both of Spartansburg; and numerous nieces and nephews of whom he was very fond. Mr. Johnson was preceded in death by a sister, Natalie Wise Friends may call at the Gordon B. Garrett Funeral Home on Sunday from 7 to 9 PM. Funeral services will be conducted from the First Presbyterian Church on Monday at 11:00 AM with his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Barry E. Cressman, officiating. Interment will be in Rose Hill Cemetery, Spartansburg with full military rites observed. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church 216 N. Franklin St., Titusville, PA 16354, Benson Memorial Library 213 N. Franklin St., Titusville, PA 16354 or to Hospice of Crawford County 310 N. Monroe St., Titusville, PA 16354. FLOWERS