Blair Daniel Johnson

Blair Daniel Johnson was born June 15, 1921, at Wellington, Al to Albert H. Johnson and Bessie Lee Prickett Johnson. He passed away Thursday, September 9, 2021, having celebrated his 100th birthday in June with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. With nine siblings, he grew up in Wellington and later moved with his family to Sand Mountain, AL near Nixon Chapel. His senior year of high school, he went to Chattanooga, TN where he lived with his brother and sister-in-law, Merrell and Helen Johnson. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he tried to join all the services. Needing his parents' permission to join the U.S. Coast Guard, the Coast Guard recruiter took him to Alabama. His parents reluctantly signed his papers. He spent five years in the Farallon Islands off the coast of California. During this time, he married Doris Nell Dyar Johnson. After returning home he earned his Bachelors of Science Degree at the University of Chattanooga in three years, and did graduate work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN on an Atomic Energy Fellowship at both Vanderbilt and Oak Ridge, TN. He helped start up the Materials Testing Reactor at the National Testing Reactor site in Idaho where he worked for 25 years as a Health Physicist. Retiring in 1976, he continued to live with his wife in Idaho Falls, ID.

Blair is survived by his daughter, Sharon N. Edwards (Mark) of Pocatello, ID; Stanley B. Johnson (Sue) of Trout Lake, WA; Gary D. Johnson (Laura), of Idaho Falls, ID; and Craig A. Johnson (Giang) of Minneapolis, MN; ten grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Nell, his parents, his brothers and sisters, and a granddaughter. Blair and Nell had been married for 74 years at the time of her death, but Blair continued to count each anniversary as the succeeding years went by.

The family wishes to thank Lincoln Court and Encompass Health and Hospice for their assistance in his care during his final days.

Graveside services will be held Friday September 17, 2021, at Fielding Memorial Park at 11:00 am.

Arrangements made under the direction of Buck-Murphy funeral home. Online condolences can be left at www.buckmurphy.com