Lawrence McNeill Johnson
Article Date: Monday, January 28, 2008
Written By: Russell Rawlings
Lawrence McNeill Johnson |
Aberdeen attorney Lawrence McNeill Johnson, 84, died Monday. A service is scheduled Thursday at 11 a.m. at Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Aberdeen. Arrangements are being handled by Boles Funeral Home of Southern Pines.
Honored by the NCBA Foundation in 2000 as the recipient of a Justice Fund, Johnson served as chair of the NCBA Young Lawyers Division in 1958-59. He also served as a member of the NCBA Board of Governors (1963-66).
Johnson represented the 20th Judicial District as a State Bar counselor for nine years.
The following biography was provided in conjunction with the establishment of the Lawrence McNeill Johnson Justice Fund, dedicated Oct. 25, 2000, at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary.
Lawrence McNeill Johnson
1924-2008
Lawrence McNeill Johnson began the practice of law in his father’s and grandfather’s law firm in 1950. Like his father and grandfather before him, his career has been long and distinguished. And also like his father and grandfather, he’s been a towering figure in the civic, social and cultural life of the community in which he lives.
Lawrence (“Larry”) Johnson was born in Aberdeen on July 12, 1923, the fourth child of J. Talbot and Kate Holcomb Johnson. He attended Southern Pines High School and prepped at the Mount Herman Preparatory School in Massachusetts.
In 1941 he entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but his academic career was cut short by service in the Army during World War II. Shortly after basic training he was transferred to the University of Nebraska for six months in a newly instituted program to learn German, which was to be of use to him while serving in a counter- intelligence unit in Germany.
He returned to the United States in April of 1946 and went on the receive his A.B. degree in political science from Chapel Hill in 1947. In June of 1950 he graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law and in October of the same year joined his father’s law practice in Aberdeen.
He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association (of which he was chair of the Young Lawyers Division in 1958) and a former member of the Association’s Board of Governors. For nine years he served as a State Bar counselor representing the 20th Judicial District. An active member of the American Bar Association, he served on the council of their General Practice Section for five years.
He also served as chairman of the North Carolina Probate Committee and has been admitted to practice law in the State of North Carolina, Federal and U.S. Supreme Courts. He has served as a general practitioner for fifty years.
He was founder and the first president of the St. Andrews Society of North Carolina, which was formed in 1972 to provide scholarships to aspiring young college students, and the founder and first president of the Moore County chapter of the English Speaking Union, an organization formed in 1918 to promote active ties with English-speaking peoples of the world through a series of lectures on historical and literary figures and to provide scholarships to deserving students.
He has served as president of the Sandhills Kiwanis Club, the Moore County Historical Association, the Moore County Charitable Foundation, the Mid- State Lung Association, the Moore County chapter of the North Carolina Symphony, the Sandhills Music Association, the Pinehurst Forum, the Malcolm Blue Historical Society, the Southern Pines Mens’ Garden Club, and the Aberdeen Jaycees. He is also a member of the Bethesda Presbyterian Church and has served as an elder, deacon and chairman of the Building Committee and the Board of Trustees for many years.
In the profession of law, Lawrence Johnson is many things to many people but over and beyond what is expected of him, he is a humanitarian. His life has been devoted to helping the cause of his fellow man. He does this quietly and without the recognition of his peers. He would not have it any other way. He has truly brought to fruition the age old adage that “To whom much is given, much is required.”
His wife of fifty years, Olive Camp of Franklin, Virginia, is his mainstay and constant source of support. She is his companion, his champion, and always his friend. They have three grown children, who are married with children of their own: Robin Monroe of Raleigh has a son; Caroline Patterson of Providence, Rhode Island has a daughter and a son; and their youngest child John Talbot Johnson of Pinehurst has a daughter and a son.
Lawrence Johnson’s hobbies include photography, world travel, horticulture, swimming tennis and walking.