Dr. James Powell Johnson of Naples, Florida, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, and formerly of Southampton, died on April 23. He was 84.
Mr. Johnson was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on October 9, 1929, to Melissa and Herman Johnson. He earned his Eagle Scout Badge. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1947 and while attending Exeter, he captained the school’s soccer team. Dr. Johnson carried his love of soccer to Harvard University, where he was also member of the Varsity Club, the Owl Club, the Hasty Pudding Club, the soccer team and the Permanent Class Committee. After graduating from Harvard in 1951, he graduated from Boston University’s Medical School in 1955; he served as president of his class his senior year.
Dr. Johnson completed his internship at Hartford Hospital from 1955 to 1957. It was in Hartford that he met the love of his life, Rita “Cookie” Stout. The couple was married in October 1957 in Kentucky, where Captain Johnson was stationed at Fort Knox Army Hospital. In 1959, their first daughter, Susan Middleton, was born. After his service to the Army, the family traveled back to the Northeast, where Dr. Johnson completed his OB-GYN residency at Boston Lying In and the Free Hospital for Women. The Johnsons’ second daughter, Sharon Powell, was born in Boston in 1962. The family of four then moved to Southampton, where Dr. Johnson joined Dr. Hugh Halsey and practiced obstetrics and gynecology until 1995. Their practice later became known as Hamptons Gynecology and Obstetrics, Inc.
While in Southampton, Dr. Johnson was a member of the Suffolk County Medical Society, American Fertility Society, the American College of OB-GYN, the American Urogynecologic Society, and the International Urogynecologic Society. He served as a member of Southampton Hospital’s Board of Trustees from 1978 to 1984, president of Southampton Hospital’s medical staff from 1980 to 1982 and was an executive committee trustee for Southampton Hospital from 1981 to 1983. Outside of his medical interests, he served as a Rogers Memorial Library trustee for five years and he was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton, where he served as both a deacon and an elder. He was also a member of the Bathing Corporation and the Meadow Club of Southampton, the Olde Stone Country Club and the Bowling Green Country Club in Kentucky and Audubon Country Club in Naples, Florida.
In addition to his wife, Cookie, Dr. Johnson is survived by a sister, Miriam Johnson Dickinson; two daughters, Susan Johnson Rodgers and husband Bruce, and Sharon Johnson Carruthers and husband Tom; two granddaughters, Kathryn Middleton Rodgers Ryan and husband Nick, and Allison Powell Rodgers; and a grandson, Dean Thomas Carruthers. Dr. Johnson’s first great-grandson, Axel James Ryan, was born in January 2014.
Memorial donations may be made to Avow Hospice Services, 1095 Whippoorwill Lane, Naples, FL 34105, the Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive, Naples, Florida 34103 or to a charity of choice.
on Apr 28, 2014