Obituaries

The Rev. William B. Johnson

Memorial services for The Rev. William B. Johnson, retired pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in
Sherman, will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 30, 2024 at Trinity Lutheran Church. The Rev. Johnson died on Thursday, November 21, 2024 at Traditions Senior Living and Memory Care
Center.

William Bailey (Bill) Johnson was born October 21, 1929, in Coryell County, Texas near Gatesville, to William Melvin and Susie Martin Johnson. He grew up in Coryell County and attended elementary schools there. He graduated as valedictorian from Pearl High School in 1947. In the fall of that year, he enrolled at Clifton Junior College, Clifton Texas, a Lutheran
institution, after receiving a basketball scholarship. It was there that he met his future wife, Muriel Knudson, and a long love story began. Clifton Junior College required attendance at daily chapel services with alphabetical seating. Thus, because of their names, Bill and Muriel were required to sit beside each other each day during the two years they were students at
Clifton College. This led to a romance, and eventually, a marriage of 70 years. While at Clifton College, on May 29, 1949, Bill was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clifton, by The Rev. Walter T. Gigstad. He also received and answered God’s call to serve as a pastor in the Lutheran Church. In the fall of 1949, Bill and Muriel began their studies at Texas Lutheran
University in Seguin, Texas. Bill was a pre-theological student with a major in English and a minor in Education. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the spring of 1951.

In September, 1951, he enrolled at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. After two years of resident study there, he began a year of internship at First English Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Minnesota. During that year, he also served Bethany Lutheran Church in Carlos, Minnesota.

On May 30, 1954, he and Muriel were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clifton, Texas by The Rev. Walter T. Gigstad. They began their married life in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul, where Muriel taught first grade during Bill’s last year at the seminary. He graduated from the seminary in May, 1955.

On June 12, 1955, after receiving a call to serve as pastor of St. John’s and St. Olaf’s Lutheran Parish near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, he was ordained into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Trinity Lutheran Church, Clifton, Texas. The Rev. Walter T. Gigstad was the ordinator. He served these congregations from August, 1955,
until November, 1958. While there, two daughters were born to him and Muriel.

In November 1958, the family moved to Beaumont, Texas, where Bill began a mission congregation named The Prince Of Peace Lutheran Church. He served there until August 1962, when the family moved to Sherman, Texas. He served Trinity Lutheran Church from August 1962 until June 11, 1995. During that time, the congregation retired the loan which was
made in order to construct the first building of Trinity Lutheran at 2505 North Hickory Street. In June, 1979, the congregation purchased property on North Loy Lake Road which had been occupied first by Leisure Lodge and later by the Sherman Elks Club. It was converted into an attractive and functional church facility.

During Bill’s forty-year service as a pastor, he also served in many other capacities. While in Wisconsin, he was treasurer of the Milwaukee Circuit of the Eastern District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. In Beaumont, he was secretary of the Southeastern Conference of the Southern District of The American Lutheran Church, the successor body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was elected to the Board of Regents of Texas Lutheran College, his alma mater, in 1960, and served for ten years. After moving to Sherman, at various times, he held each major office of the Sherman Ministerial Alliance. Along with others in Sherman, he helped to organize STEP (Sherman Tutorial Education Program) in the mid-1960s. During those years, he served as a member of and chairman of the Southern District Committee on Higher Education, and also as secretary of the Northeastern Conference of the Southern District. He became involved with the emerging home hospice program in Grayson County in the late 1970s, eventually becoming a volunteer and also a volunteer chaplain. He was one of the
community leaders who began SAM (Sherman Assistance Ministries) during the 1980s.

Bill always had a great interest in music and participated in a number of musical organizations. He was a member of the Clifton College A Capella Choir, the Texas Lutheran University A Capella Choir, and the Luther Seminary A Capella Choir. In Sherman, he was a charter member of the Sherman Community Chorus and sang the part of “Simeon” in the Chorus’ presentation of Randall Thompson’s “The Nativity” in 1968.

Bill and Muriel were a presenting couple with International Lutheran Marriage Encounter from
1982 until 1995. During all of those years, they were the Dallas-Ft. Worth Area Clergy Contact Couple. They helped present twenty-six Marriage Encounter Weekends in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Area and in Waco. They were awarded the title ‘Clergy Couple Emeritus” in 1995. In 1995, they were elected Clergy Contact Couple of District II of International Lutheran Marriage Encounter, North American Region.

Bill selected the date for his retirement, June 11, 1995, to coincide with the date of his ordination, June 12, 1955. That day in 1995 also was the Sunday of The Holy Trinity. He thought it was appropriate to retire on that day since he had served Trinity Lutheran Church for thirty-three years.

The day of his retirement did not happen as expected. Immediately after finishing his last sermon, entitled, “Letting Go and Letting God,” he collapsed in the pulpit with a heart attack. By the grace of God, the prayers of hundreds of people throughout the United States, and through the efforts of Sherman paramedics, Wilson N. Jones emergency room personnel, and Dr. David Davis, he survived the attack. Since that time, he was limited in the activities he could tolerate and could no longer serve in any pastoral capacity. However, he served as a member of the Board of Directors of RSVP (Retired Seniors Volunteer Program). He also served as co-leader
of The Luther Group, one of the Small Groups Ministries at Trinity Lutheran Church.

He is survived by his wife, Muriel, and his daughters, LeAnn James (Bruce) and Carol Pfeiffer (Billy), three grandsons and five great-grandchildren. He was proceeded in death by his parents, sister and brother. Cremation was under the direction of Dannel Funeral Home. Ashes will be interred at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Cemetery, Cranfills Gap, Texas.

The family expresses our heartfelt thanks to the caregivers and staff of Home Instead, Traditions Senior Living and Memory Care, and Hospice Plus.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Pastor Johnson be made to Trinity Lutheran Church Memorial Fund.