Some lives are lived in pursuit of building wealth and fame. Greg Johnson's life was lived in pursuit of re-building the lives of strangers.

For more than 35 years, as a paid and volunteer staff member of the American Red Cross, Greg worked tirelessly to help thousands of families recover from devastating losses caused by natural disasters. Leaving home at a moment's notice to spend months at a time in communities leveled by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods, Greg was known for his ability to take on even the most challenging tasks in disaster response.

Need someone to figure out how to assess the damage after a hurricane left no homes or street signs standing? Call Greg Johnson. Need someone to run 10 service centers to feed and assist thousands of families? Call Greg Johnson. Need someone to learn how to program a computer to make disaster responses more efficient? Call Greg Johnson.

It would be impossible to calculate the enormous impact of Greg's contributions to making American Red Cross disaster response more efficient and effective. In the early 80's when someone donated an Apple laptop to the disaster team, it was Greg who taught himself how to write programming for it — programming that helped usher the Red Cross into the era of modern technology. He wrote programs to help organize and automate information about disaster damage assessments, volunteers, donations, and dozens of other vital Red Cross functions and services.

Much of the work Greg did to create and improve Red Cross computer systems, he did between his deployments to major disasters. Greg  was there to help communities rebuild after countless disasters, including the Saragosa, Texas Tornado, Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew; the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC., and dozens of other tornadoes, fires and floods. Greg was very, very good at living out of a suitcase. Thankfully he enjoyed being on the road. Greg never turned down a call for help from anyone.

One of those many calls for help would ultimately bring him the greatest joy in his life - meeting his love, Annie Bartholomew.

AnnieB had also dedicated herself to making Red Cross Disaster Services more efficient. They worked together to develop and automate a comprehensive program to recruit, train and track all Red Cross Disaster Services volunteers. Their Disaster Services Human Resources (DSHR) System became the gold standard for disaster response across the country.

Greg went on to help other Red Cross services create systems to track everything from financial systems and donations to Services to the Armed Forces volunteers and their activities.

Greg and AnnieB were married on Valentine's Day,1988 and loved spending time together. They both retired from the Red Cross at the end of 2008. From that day forward, they happily traveled the country visiting friends and family from Virginia Beach to Greg's boyhood home in Tyler, Texas and AnnieB's hometown, Quincy, Illinois. Their rescue dogs were often along for the ride.

Greg was born and raised in Tyler, Texas. He earned three college degrees from Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler. Greg continued to learn new skills throughout his life. He loved fishing and gourmet cooking. Even after retiring, he learned more about photography and video production techniques so he could help run the in-house production studio at the Ashby Ponds Continuous Care Retirement Community where he and AnnieB lived.

Greg embarked on his final disaster response in October of 2020, when he learned he had cancer. His deployment would be shorter than anyone hoped, but to the end his focus was on rebuilding and comforting those around him. With his dearest AnnieB by his side, Greg slipped quietly into eternity on Sunday, December 6, 2020. He will be deeply missed by the many people and animals who loved him dearly.

Greg was preceded in death by his parents, Rolla LeRoy and Katherine (Mann) Johnson (Tyler, TX). He is survived by his beloved wife, Ann E. Bartholomew of Ashburn, VA; their devoted Papillon puppies, Charlie and Pippa; his niece, Robin Marie Johnson; nephew, Ryan Michael Johnson; brother, Ronald Wayne Johnson, and far too many friends to count.

No services are planned. Greg will be buried at the City Cemetery in Mt.Sterling, Illinois, beside AnnieB's parents, William and Ruth (Wennier) Bartholomew.

Memorial donations may be made to:

Best Friends Animal Society

5001 Angel Canyon Road

Kanab, UT 84741

www.bestfriends.org

or

American Red Cross Disaster Services

PO Box 37839

Boone, IA 50037-0839

www.redcross.org/donate/disaster-relief

(this website also gives additional options for ways to donate)