{"id":117899,"date":"2014-09-11T03:46:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T09:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colleagues-recall-life-of-former-editor\/"},"modified":"2014-09-11T03:46:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T09:46:58","slug":"colleagues-recall-life-of-former-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colleagues-recall-life-of-former-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"Colleagues recall life of former editor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Johnson\"
Johnson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cTommy was famous for saying, \u2018Just pop a bulb,\u2019 which meant to get the photo. He knew the flash would make people feel their story was important.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Mary Wilson recalls of her former boss, Thomas J. Johnson, who served as longtime editor of the Montezuma Valley Journal. Johnson hired Wilson as the society editor in 1967 without any journalism experience, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember him telling me to get the job done,\u201d Wilson recalled. \u201cHe stressed listening to people\u2019s stories and getting them recorded as best as you could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born July 26, 1922, in Denver, Johnson died Sept. 7, at the Vista Grande Inn in Cortez. He was 92.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big piece of history has disappeared with Tommy\u2019s passing,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cHe knew everything down to the exact date.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson described Johnson as both a good-spirited and good-natured man who always maintained a level head.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy loved his job,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cHe gave it his all.\u201d<\/p>\n

While attending Cortez High School, Johnson began working at the Montezuma-Valley Journal in 1939 and remained until his graduation in 1941. He honed his journalism skills while attending Fort Lewis College at Hesperus, serving as editor of the Fort Lewis Collegian.<\/p>\n

Johnson then joined the Army and served as a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division during World War II. Upon returning, he entered Regis College in Denver, and became editor of the Regis College Ranger. He graduated in 1949, and then returned to Cortez to work for the Montezuma-Valley Journal from 1949 until 1952.<\/p>\n

Johnson was recalled to the military during the Korean War, serving with the 7th Division overseas for three years. Wounded in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, Johnson returned home and purchased the Dolores Star in 1955 before reclaiming his title as editor of the Montezuma Valley Journal in 1958.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked at the newspaper as a reporter and photographer with Tom for 25 years,\u201d said Byron McKelvie.<\/p>\n

Described as very outgoing, Johnson knew most everybody in the area, which helped to enhance the newspaper\u2019s coverage, said McKelvie. Under Johnson\u2019s tutelage, McKelvie predicted they published \u201cmillions of words\u201d on the Dolores River project in the late \u201970s and early \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a good team,\u201d McKelvie said. \u201cWe had an arrangement to work together. It was a good operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to their professional relationship, McKelvie said he also formed a close personal bond with Johnson. The duo continued meeting for lunch after Johnson\u2019s retirement in 1987.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis death is a big loss,\u201d said McKelvie.<\/p>\n

A memorial mass service for Johnson was held on Thursday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. A rosary service proceeded on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

For more, see Johnson\u2019s obituary on Page 3A.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018A big piece of history has disappeared with Tommy\u2019s passing\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[13,60,2579,2346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-117899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newspapers","tag-people-profiles"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117899"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=117899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}