Ronald Johnson

George Ronald Johnson, 77, of Safford, Arizona, passed away June 2, 2013. George, aka Alan Reynolds was born in Pima, Arizona to Ethel Smith and Jim (James) Johnson. He graduated from Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, California. Following high school, George joined the Air Force and served as an air craft mechanic. George had a distinctive voice and was later asked to teach. He met Betty Clapsaddle, and they had 3 children, Ron Johnson, Michael Johnson and Kelly Johnson during their time in Arizona. His daughter Kelly, was called back to heaven after 9 short hours. He served in Okinawa and retired from military service in 1960. Following his time in the service he started employment with IBM. During his time with IBM, he was sent to San Jose, CA where he was a field engineer for electrical machines. He traveled back and forth to Los Angeles, and was later transferred to Ft. Huachaca, AZ to cover all IBM punch cards in Southern Arizona. Computers came in and he traveled to Poughkeepsie, NY for training for walk in computers for IBM. During his employment with IBM, George also lived in Denver, CO. George left IBM and to a job with another computer company that serviced IBM computers and moved to Oklahoma. George loved to fly airplanes so during his time in Oklahoma he began flying with an aero club to commute around the state for his job. That particular job did not work out, so he started crop dusting for a few years and moved to Kansas. His marriage ended and he moved to Portland, Oregon where he worked at service stations and whatever work he could find. He then moved onto Tacoma, Washington, back to Phoenix, then onto Salt Lake where he met Jane Corielle. At this time he went to work for Cannon and obtained an instructor job which took him back to Huntington Beach, CA. He worked for a Cannon dealer in Ft. Collins, CO and along with another fellow from Salt Lake, he bought into a Cannon dealership. George got started in microfilm when he worked for Cisco Corp. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This work brought him back to California and then back here to Safford. George loved classical music and loved to build and fly model planes. George is preceded in death by wife, Jane, his son, Michael Johnson, and daughter, Kelly Johnson. George is survived by mother, Ethel Smith of Pima, son, Ron Johnson of California, sisters, Valerie Mattice of Pima and Pam Taylor of Utah. Services for George will be on Saturday June 8, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. at Caldwell Funeral Chapel. A viewing will be conducted an hour prior and also on Friday, June 7 from 6-8 p.m. at Caldwell Funeral Chapel. Interment will follow at the Pima Cemetery with Military Honors by the Gila Valley Honor Guard.