Remembering Bob Johnson
Lodi funeral honors councilman, former mayor
The sunlight shimmered through colorful plate glass windows inside the nave at St. Anne's Church Thursday morning, where mourners gathered to honor the memory of former Lodi Councilman Bob Johnson.
The solemn ceremony commenced after a procession of family members entered the church, embracing a box of the late councilman’s ashes.
Members of the Marine
Honor Guard carried out a flag-folding ceremony as trumpeters performed a rendition of “Taps” followed by a 21-gun salute.
Widow Carolyn Johnson was presented with the United States flag in commemoration of Johnson’s service in the U.S. Marine Corps, during the Vietnam War, where he reached the rank of captain.
A reading from Ecclesiastes 3:2 was followed by a hymn from Psalm 23 before Father Brandon Ware spoke.
“A month ago I met with
Bob to deliver the ‘Anointing of the Sick’ (sacrament performed over those gravely ill) and there in his diminished state I could not help but notice how Bob commanded the room. He had a power to his presence that I could not forget,” Ware said.
He obtained a report written by Lodi native Nathan Bond, who had interviewed Johnson for a Veteran’s Day, which included an anecdote that told of Johnson’s humility.
“Having graduated with a college degree he (Johnson) should have entered officer candidate school, however, he requested to go directly to boot camp in South Carolina because he wanted to understand what entry-level soldiers experience, which made him more popular with his subordinates,” the story read.
It was there he understood the influential presence Johnson possessed, Ware said, and his natural affinity to command a room.
“He was a man of the people, he was one with the people, he cared for the people, did not set himself above the people and used his many gifts and talents to take people as a whole to higher expression,” Ware said.
Born and raised in New York City, Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University in Allegany,
New York.
He spent more than 20 years in the financial industry in a variety of sales, marketing and management positions in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More recently, he was self-employed as a real estate appraiser in the Central Valley.
Johnson moved to Lodi in 1979, and became active in the Lodi community soon afterward, serving as president of the Booster of
Boys and Girls Sports in 1985. He served on the parks and rec commission from 1988 to 1998, stepping down after being appointed to a 10-month term on the city council to replace David Warner, who was elected a San Joaquin County judge.
He returned to the commission afterward, serving from 1999 to 2004. He was president of the Lodi District Chamber of Commerce in 1994, chairman of the Mokelumne River Task Force in 1992 and the Lodi Parks and Recreation Master Plan Committee in 1993.
Johnson also became involved with San Joaquin County civics, serving as chairman of the San Joaquin County YMCA in 1983 and 1984, as well as the San Joaquin County Assessment Appeals Board from 1997 to 2004.
In 1998, he ran unsuccessfully for one of two vacant seats on the council. He was fourth among nine candidates in the field. He ran unsuccessfully again in 2000, garnering 24% of the vote in a race for two open seats. Johnson was elected to the city council in 2004 and served continuously until his death.
He served on the council for 15 years, three of those as mayor. This year was to be his last on the council. He had been battling an infection in his legs for a handful of years that limited his mobility, and in 2018 he told the News-Sentinel he had no plans to seek reelection.