George P. Johnson

Mr. George P. Johnson, 93, of Ludington, formerly of Custer, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Dec. 24 at Tendercare of Ludington. George was born on April 11, 1912 in Detroit and was raised by Benjamin and Alberta Feltzer. He graduated from Comstock Park High School in Grand Rapids, where he excelled in athletics. In 1935 he married Effie Beukema, and she preceded him in death in 1994 after celebrating 59 years together. In 1996, George married Marilyn Schneider, and they have celebrated 9 years together.

George worked as a security officer for Dow Chemical in Midland before moving his family to Custer in the 1940s, where he continued to work for Dow in security until his retirement in 1969. He owned and operated Johnson Car Sales and Body Shop in Custer until he sold to his son Mike, who continues to operate the business today. George, along with his wife Effie, operated Johnson's A & W Root Beer Stand in Custer in the 1960s, also known as "Custer's Last Stand"? He and Marilyn were members of the Summit Church of Christ, and enjoyed traveling and taking rides in the country together.

George was preceded in death by his wife Effie, his great grandson Justin Travis McCormick, and two sisters. He will be greatly missed by his wife Marilyn of Ludington; his children, George (Noreen) Johnson of Shelby Township, Mike Johnson of Custer and Marcia (Jerry) McCormick of Fountain; his grandchildren, Julie (Mike) DeClercq of Shelby Township, Steve (Laura) Johnson of Troy, J.W. (Gail) McCormick II of Fountain, Jeremy (Kristina) McCormick of Fountain and Sheila Johnson (Rory Guerra) of Custer; his great-grandchildren, Jessica and Christopher DeClercq, Travis and Megan McCormick, Kaitlyn Thompson, Madisyn McCormick and Alicia Guerra.

A Celebration of Life service will be held for George at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at the Stephens Life Story Funeral Home in Scottville with the Rev. Damon Beaver, minister of Summit Church of Christ, officiating. Burial will take place at Fountain Cemetery. Friends may meet with his family for a time of visitation from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday evening at the funeral home.

Those who wish may make memorial contributions to the American Diabetes Association, Hospice of Michigan in Mason County, the Aviary Fund at Tendercare Nursing Home, or to Summit Church of Christ. Please visit www.lifestorynet.com to read George?s complete Life Story, leave a memory for his family or sign the guestbook.

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George was born April 11, 1912, in a Foundling Home in Detroit, Michigan, and was adopted and raised by his mother's brother and wife, Ben and Bertha Feltzer. George also had two half-sisters, Marion and Mabel, who preceded him in death. His adoptive father, Ben, died when George was age 6, and his adoptive mother, Bertha, later married Floyd Johnson. During most of his school years in the 1920s, George lived in the Grand Rapids area, where he worked from the time he was a young boy. At age 13, he was up at 5:30 a.m. so he could walk one mile across fields to school to start fires in the stoves, so it would be warm for the other students. He also worked evenings in a grocery store all through high school.

George was a good athlete, and he competed in football and won several medals in track prior to his graduation from Comstock Park High School. Even when George was in his 40's, he could still beat his two teenage sons in a foot race between the house and the garage. His youngest son, Mike, also used to challenge his Dad to a wrestling match and he never could take his Dad down. His sons always suspected that "Dad" stayed in shape by sneaking out to the used car lot at night and pushing his cars around on the lot. During the Great Depression (early 1930s), George set pins for a bowling alley, worked in a furniture store and eventually became a butler/chauffeur/gardener for a well-to-do family in Grand Rapids, where he met his first wife-to-be, Effie Beukema, who worked as a maid next door. They fell in love and were married in 1935.

By the 1940s, George and Effie had three children, George Jr., Mike and Marcia, and George started working as a Plant Guard for Dow Chemical Company - first in Midland and later in Ludington. In the mid 1940s, they moved to an 80-acre farm north of Custer, Michigan. During this period, George continued to work at Dow and work the farm (cows, pigs, chickens, wheat, oats, etc.) - with a lot of help from Effie. In the 1950s, George's first business got its start when he began to buy, fix and sell cars out on the farm. In fact, his very first purchase was a wrecked 1950 Chevy. He fixed most of it himself in an old granary on the farm. When it was done, he put a "For Sale" sign on it and parked it on the front lawn. Even though there was very little traffic on that old country dirt road, he sold it right away, and this part-time project helped pay the bills. Eventually George decided that the car business was more fun than farming, so he built a garage on U.S. 10 just west of Custer, and "Johnson Car Sales & Body Shop" was born. The business quickly expanded from the 1 or 2 car salvage operation on the farm to a used car lot, a body and paint shop and an auto parts salvage operation (aka junkyard). At times, he had 25 to 30 used cars on the lot plus another 100 or so junkers in the salvage yard for parts. Saturday was the big day at the used car lot, and sometimes George would sell as many as ten cars on a single Saturday. Although Effie did the bookkeeping and George, Jr. and Mike helped with the work at the garage, George was the "brains" behind the success of Johnson Car Sales.

Not only was George a great businessman, he had a knack for buying vehicles that his customers wanted - pick-up trucks for the farmers; clean inexpensive cars for those with tight budgets; and ex-police cars for the younger customers. And, he was a great salesman - primarily because he cared about his customers and treated them fairly. If George sold someone a car and there was a problem with the vehicle, even if it was not his fault, George would try to make it right by repairing the problem area or even replacing the problem vehicle with another good vehicle. His business flourished year after year - primarily because of "repeat customers" and "family members of former customers." Some customers bought five or six cars from George over the years, and sometimes he sold cars to fathers and sons/daughter - and other relatives because they knew he was an honest and fair man.

George continued to work 12-hour shifts, 6 days on and 2 days off, at Dow while he oversaw Johnson Car Sales during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. George was always confused regarding what day of the week it was, because with his work schedule, every weekend was a different two days. One week, his "off days" would be Monday and Tuesday, and the next week, it would be Tuesday and Wednesday. When you combine that with a "swing shift" (i.e. one week of days/one week of afternoons/one week of midnights), you can see why he was confused. In addition, during the early 1960s, Effie got bored, so George opened "Johnson's A&W Root Beer Stand" just west of Custer. He referred to it as "Custer's Last Stand-Heading West." Effie, with help from George Jr. and Marcia, ran it for five years-at which time it was sold. In the meantime, Mike continued to take on more and more responsibilities at the used car lot and body shop.

In 1969, George retired from Dow (after almost 30 years on Plant Protection), and in the 1970s, he sold his car business to his son, Mike, who still runs the 50-year-old operation. During the 1970s and 1980s, George and Effie spent their winters in Florida, where they enjoyed the warm weather with friends and relatives. During the 1980s and 1990s, George continued to help with the used car lot as well as continued to collect antique and classic cars and antique clocks. George's collection of cars ranged from antiques from the 1920's/1930's/1940's to classics and muscle cars from the 1950's/1960's/1970's. It included nameplates like Ford Model T, Ford Model A, Edsel, Nash, Metropolitan, Diana, Bentley, Pierce Arrow, Rolls Royce, LaSalle, Corvette and Franklin. In fact, he was still buying old cars when he was in his 90's.

Even though George was a big man who could come across as "gruff" at times, he always had a soft spot in his heart for his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He enjoyed teasing them one minute and buying them ice cream the next minute. He had even been seen playing hide and seek with them in the cornfield. In 1994, George's wife, Effie, passed away. They had enjoyed a wonderful life together for 59 years. A few years after Effie's passing, George met Marilyn Schneider of Ludington, and they were married in 1996. Actually, there is more to the story regarding how they met. George (who apparently was feeling younger than his birth certificate indicated) placed a "Personal" in the Ludington Daily News, where he indicated he was in his 60's when he was actually in his 80's. The ad resulted in a coffee meeting between George and a lady in her 50's. The lady immediately realized that there was a significant age difference, but she still enjoyed meeting George, and she told him she knew a lady that she thought he should meet. That lady was Marilyn, and the rest is history.

There was another member of George and Marilyn's household, and his name was Chester - a brown Airedale/collie mix. In fact, Chester made the newspaper back in the year 2000, when he was credited with rescuing George after he had fallen and broken his hip. At the time, George (in his late 80's) was washing his car in the garage of his Custer home when he tripped over the bucket and fell on the concrete floor. He managed to crawl to the screen door leading to the house and yell for Marilyn, but she (who has a cochlear implant to help with her hearing problem) was in the sunroom on the other side of the house and could not hear him. Then George spotted Chester in the house and yelled, "Go get Marilyn!" Chester ran into the sunroom and literally jumped on Marilyn who immediately knew something was wrong. She found George in the garage and called EMS. George and Marilyn resided in Custer for several years and enjoyed rides in the country and traveling together to various spots throughout Michigan. In recent years, George's health problems resulted in their relocation to Ludington. Marilyn continues to live in an apartment in Ludington. George was a member of the Summit Church of Christ.

George's family includes his children: George (Noreen) Johnson of Shelby Township; Mike Johnson of Custer; and Marcia (Jerry) McCormick of Fountain; his grandchildren: Julie (Mike) DeClercq of Shelby Township; Steve (Laura) Johnson of Troy; J.W. (Gail) McCormick II of Fountain; Jeremy (Kristina) McCormick of Fountain; and Sheila Johnson (Rory Guerra) of Custer; his great grandchildren: Jessica and Christopher DeClercq, Travis and Megan McCormick, Kaitlyn Thompson and Madisyn McCormick, and Alicia Guerra. George was preceded in death by his first wife, Effie Beukema Johnson, his great grandson, Justin Travis McCormick, his parents and his two half sisters.

A Celebration of Life service will be held for George at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 28, at the Stephens Life Story Funeral Home in Scottville with Damon Beaver, minister of Summit Church of Christ officiating. Burial will take place at Fountain Cemetery. Friends may meet with his family for a time of visitation on Tuesday, December 27, from 7-9 p.m. at the funeral home. Please visit www.lifestorynet.com where you may leave a memory for his family, sign the guestbook, or for those who wish may make a memorial contribution to either the American Diabetes Association, Hospice of Michigan ~ Mason County, the Aviary Fund at Tendercare Nursing Home in Ludington or the Summit Church of Christ.