By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@star-telegram.com
With his experience in World War II and as a college football end, Milton F. Johnson Sr. was used to being attacked.
So it was no great surprise when he met opposition on the streets of Fort Worth -- from homeowners and neighborhood dogs -- when he became the city's first black letter carrier.
"White people would come out of their houses cussing me and even spitting at me," he told a
Star-Telegram reporter in 1990 when he retired from the U.S. Postal Service after 41 years of service to Uncle Sam.
Johnson, who died Sunday, saw a lot of changes in Fort Worth and the country during his 92 years.
He received his worst treatment in those early days walking the blocks in the Polytechnic area, then an all-white community. But, Johnson said, "later I was accepted and customers brought me lemonade in the summer, as well as armloads of cookies and cakes at Christmas."
Even though he continued to have trouble with some big dogs, Johnson recalled that in the Alta Mere area, there were three or four small dogs that would greet him each day and walk with him throughout the neighborhood.
Born in Elgin, he came to Fort Worth when he was 2, was christened at St. Andrews United Methodist Church and attended James E. Guinn Elementary and Junior High and the historic I.M. Terrell High School.
Johnson was at Texas College in Tyler majoring in mathematics and playing football when he was drafted into the Army in 1942.
According to his discharge papers, his occupational specialty was carpenter and his military qualification was "Sharpshooter Rifle."
He received the EAME (European-African-Middle Eastern) Campaign Medal with four bronze stars, one service stripe and three overseas service bars, for campaigns in Normandy, northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe.
After the war, Johnson returned to Texas College to finish his degree and then came back to Fort Worth to coach and teach math at his old junior high school from 1949 to 1951. Although he had earned his teaching certificate and certified approval for principal and was close to getting his master's at Denver University, Johnson couldn't wait on a coaching job to open up at the city's only black high school.
A friend had encouraged him to take the civil service exam to work at the post office, saying that if he passed it, he couldn't be denied a job. When he learned that he could make more money in two weeks working at the post office than he could in a month as a teacher, Johnson took the exam. He said the test had a lot of calculus and geometry questions that were no problem for him with his math background.
He was first hired in 1951 as a "Christmas casual" and was employed full time in 1952.
Johnson, an imposing figure at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, said he watched children grow up in the areas where he carried his mailbag, and later he would be invited to some of their weddings and anniversary parties. If he was sick or on leave, his customers called to check on him, he told the
Metropost, the postal newsletter for the Dallas division.
Johnson was a role model for others. He held several leadership positions at St. Andrews, was a football official for the Southwest and Gulf Coast conferences, a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and a member of American Legion Post 0838.
"He was a loving father who adored his grandchildren," said his wife of 59 years, Marguerite, who was a longtime teacher and principal in the Fort Worth school district.
She said Johnson had been ill for a while, but in the end "his heart just wore out."
The couple has two children, Milton F. Johnson Jr. and Monita Johnson-Henley, both of Austin, and three grandchildren.
Marguerite Johnson said her husband's last words were "I love you very much."
I'm sure Johnson was aware that many people in Fort Worth also loved him.
Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. 817-390-7775Twitter: @BobRaySanders
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