Edward's Page
Paul created an electronic version of our Dad's journal where he jotted down from time to time some favorite passages from things he read, along with commentary sometimes, or just general musings. It is a valuable part of his legacy and testimony to both the simplicity and complexity of the man:
In 1965, Sue was living in San Francisco, and she and Dad corresponded by way of tapes sent back and forth. Fortunately, she kept some of the ones he sent her:
In Tape 1, he has a memory and an occasion much later that relate to these words by George Elliot:
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Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
Tape 2: "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow." Geirr, Norwegian buddy of Larry's. Weekend with
Rick and Sylvia.
Tape 3: Family news.
Tape 4: Rick and Sylvia join in the session. Joking about ping pong, croquet. Paul and Rick playing frisbee. Paul's bug in the basement. Paul chasing the centipede. Paul with snakes. Larry and Hita. A sweet dog.
Tape 5: Life advice to Sue: "You can never please everybody all the time." Buying advice on getting a tape recorder. Music is work, but not like work in a job. Work = what you want to do. Interrupted by "the goddamn phone."
Tape 6: Larry's take on German lieder, a caveman cartoon Dad sent. Rick joins in, more on ping pong. Rick getting muscles. Dad's new VW camper. Planned trip up North together. Candle-lit gin rummy games. Upcoming championship baseball game. Rick as center fielder. Larry to come home soon from Germany. Aunt Helen shows up for a few seconds.
Tape 7: Aunt Helen (continued) - day spent with Grandma Mary. Dad plays and sings "Green Grow the Rushes, O."
Ed Johnson, 1953
Tape 8: Dad plays and sings "Early One Morning," "The Joy of Love," a yodel song, "From Lucerne to Wackis Town," "The Streets of Laredo," "Bheir mi òru o ho", "Dream Angus" -- plus commentary!
Tape 8: Dad plays and sings "Early One Morning," "The Joy of Love," a yodel song, "From Lucerne to Wackis Town," "The Streets of Laredo," "Bheir mi òru o ho", "Dream Angus" -- plus commentary.
Tape 9: Dad plays and sings "Coming Through the Rye," "A Wee Deoch-an-Doris," "Oh, No John," "Down By the Bay" -- plus commentary.
Tape 10: Dad plays and sings "A Man's a Man For All That," "Someone to Watch Over Me" -- plus commentary.
Tape 11: Advice on simple communication, with some tinges of sarcasm.
Tape 12: Playing ping pong with Rick "for blood." Rick the Skateboard Hero of Riceville. News on Larry. Lakeside picnic at Cedar Lake with Hita's family. VW Camper as the "Aufenthalt" -- German for "abode." Jobim bossanova music.
Dad acted and sang in many productions of the Minneapolis Civic Opera, usually held outdoors at the Lake Harriet Bandstand. Here is one example, The Merry Widow, where he apparently preferred the stage name "Edwin Johnson," playing the role of Baron Popoff:
Dad wrote his little niece Nancy this letter in 1943 when she was in the hospital. It was written on Northern Pump stationery, a foundry located in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, where Paul and Tracey live today.
Over the past year, Paul, Larry and Sylvia have been exchanging emails recalling certain set phrases Dad used for various situations, which we came to call "Dadisms." These have been collected and put here, along with some family history and contexts where a Dadism could surface:
More tapes:
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Dad and Larry also exchanged tapes in 1965 when Larry was an exchange student in Berlin, Germany. Here are portions of those recordings that survived that capture some of the robust joy, earthiness, tenderness, taleny and complexity of the man:
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Tape 1, Part 1 - News about the family. Business stinks. Missing Larry.
Tape 1, Part 2 - Sue, Sylvia and Dan. Barbara Splawn coming to town with fiancé. Doug and the fruit business. Firing Judy the secretary.
Tape 1, Part 3 - Robert Burns song: “I Walkin’ O”. Church choir devotional topic: happy revival meetings; “I come here to sing bass.” Alan Payton quote. Great laugh at end.
Tape 1, Part 4 - Short tapes better than long ones. Say hi to your grandpa. Sings the Burns song.
Tape 1, Part 5 - Sings “Wi a Hundred Pipers,” plays “Moon River,” then sings it. Larry’s Norway trip [May 1965]. Enjoying the bachelor life. Two kinds of happy people.
Tape 2, Part 1 - Answers Larry’s 5/17/65 letter. Saw Richard III and had dinner with Sylvia. Visited Rick and Paul, saw Rick play baseball like a pro. Answers the phone, talks to trucker, slams phone down. News on Paul and Alice.
Tape 2, Part 2 - News on Rick, Sue. Business risks. Story about truck driver with strawberries and road troubles. Eddie story. Steam room story.
Tape 3, Part 1 - “In deep water” on difficult new music. Plays and sings “Sunday,” a song by Brahms; “Der Schied” (“The Blacksmith”), and another song by Brahms (not sure of title).
Tape 3, Part 2 - Plays and sings “In Summer Fields,” a song by Brahms; start of another Brahms song, then plays “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” (tape ends or is cut off before finish).
Tape 4, to Sue - Rick and Sylvia in goof-off country. No news from Larry. News of Alice in a candy factory. Paul on the Dean’s List. Traded Jeep in for used VW camper. Very happy with it. Rick and Sylvia’s last day of school, going out in the camper. Rick and Mike break in the camper at Taylors Falls. Story about that. German songs.
Tape 5, to niece Barbara Splahn (now Fawn Cooper), sent in 1965. Others on this type: Doug and Helen Creasey, Grandma Mary and Grampa Oscar. A jovial, happy time.
Tape 6, the other side of Tape 5, but now with just Dad alone in the room. He shares some of his intimate thoughts here that are quite moving.