Curley Johnson

“The days are getting shorter.”  This was the last sentence Ellis “Curley” Johnson of Bridgeport said to his wife Frances before he died August 15, 1974. Frances was commenting about the time and how dark the sky looked outside. 

The days were getting shorter, but Curley made the most of them, from rising early in the morning to have coffee with the boys to an early evening chat about sports at one of the service stations when gasoline was plentiful.  He had time to fix a lawnmower, time to chat, time for his garden and time for anyone who needed assistance.  The days were getting shorter, but Curley had an eye toward the future.  Two days before he died, he was trying to figure out a way of helping a young boy who had less than a desirable homelife, “He’s a good kid. Maybe I can find some work for him.”

Curley was a member of the Bridgeport Lions Club, the Lawrence County Sportsmen’s Club, the Lawrence County Board of School Trustees and on the Board of Directors of the Bridgeport Building and Loan Association; he served on the Park Board and was a former city councilman.

Curley was born May 11, 1909, in Lebanon Missouri, the son of Van D and Rebecca Vermillion Johnson.  He married Francis Berlin Johnson, a teacher in the Bridgeport elementary school system.  Ellis Curley Johnson, 65, was the well-liked owner and operator of the Johnson Hardware store in Bridgeport.