Early Life

The Johnson Family

James Johnson at the age of three is pictured to the far left with the rest of the Johnson family

My grandfather, the little boy pictured top left, was born May 17th, 1943 in Granite Falls, Minnesota. His father, Russell Johnson, started out as a pastor at a local church during World War II. As soon as the war was over and commercial flights were reinstated, his father moved the family of six across the Atlantic to the not-so-little island of Madagascar.

Pictured above is the Johnson family in 1946 with my grandfather at age three boarding one of the first transatlantic flights after the war. This photograph was published in the New York Times because of the significance of one of the first commercial flights taking off after the war. My grandfather quotes, "That's when the great adventure started".

My grandfather was born into a family of missionaries. His mother, Caroline Johnson, was born in Madagascar into a family of missionaries. His father, Russel Johnson, was a missionary himself. They are pictured here about to embark on their religious mission to Madagascar to promote Christianity to the native population.