243. Robert Barnes Johnson (Leola Lynn Whitfield , Henry Allen , Frederick John , John ) was born on 13 Apr 1900 in Honeoye Falls, Monroe, New York, USA. He died on 28 Jul 1973 in Hemet, , California, USA.
Biography of Robert Barnes Johnson
Lt., Co Commander, Camp Van Etten, New York & Camp Selkirk, Selkirk Shores State Park, New York
Col., CO, ROTC Training, USA, WWII
I am the son of Robert Barnes Johnson, d. 1973, who was an Army lieutenannt serving in CCC camps in western NY State in the 1930's on EAD. He later served in WWII as a colonel running Army Reserve training (ROTC).
Robert Barnes Johnson was born on April 13, 1900. He married Olyve Cole Eckler Johnson, who was born March 16, 1899. They were married on August 20, 1920. They were both from small towns near Rochester, New York. His father was an insurance executive, hers was an owner of several farms. Both came from pioneer stock, Olyve from the Puritans of Plymouth, Mass. In 1633, and he from the Whitfields, famous Methodist preachers of England.
There was one child, myself, Franklyn Arthur Johnson.
My father served as an enlisted man in the 6th Marine Division in WWI, then in the Florida National Guard and the Organized Reserve as a sergeant, then commissioned as a second lieutenant. He served in Florida as an Immigration Border Patrol Inspector in the 1930's.
He was a 1st Lieutenant at the start of WWII, assistant professor of Military Science at Rutgers University, and in other educational posts. He headed the military training education program as Commandant at the Long Island College of Medicine.
His work in the CCC was, so far as I recall, limited to two camps, at Selkirk Shores State Park, Pulaski, NY, and Van Etten, NY, near Syracuse. We then lived in one of the rental houses at Selkirk and I attended Pulaski Academy, then Riverside Military Academy in Georgia and Florida. Riverside called him as a Lieutenant Colonel to bring back their Honor School rating in 1945-1947, he serving there as Commandant. He then went to the Pentagon as liason officer for all ROTC units in the Army. He later earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Rochester, 1960, and a master's degree in education at Stetson University, 1965.
He was an outstanding rifle and pistol shot, participating in many Florida National Guard and Reserve Corps state and national championships.
My mother, Olyve Eckler Johnson, served in the Civil Air Patrol, part of the Army Air Corps, during WWII. She was adjutant of the New Jersey Wing, held a commercial license for over twenty years, and also a license as a parachute rigger. After WWII she was Director of Flight Training at Riverside, then the nation's largets military academy. She was a member of various women's flight organizations, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
My father retired to the desert town of Hemet in Southern California after my mother's death on December 19, 1963, and married Katherine Law Stage, a widow, in 1966. They became very active in such groups as the Sons of the American Revolution, Retired Officers Association, and the Pilgrim Congregational Church of Hemet.
My father passed away on July 28, 1973.
I have Dad's master's thesis (Steton Univ, 1965) entitled "The CCC and American Youth Education" (32 pages and bibliography). I have no anecdotal meterials, only memory of his serving at the camps at Van Etten and especially Selkirk Shores State Park, NY.
By coincidence I served as national Director of the Job Corps under LBJ.
----- Prepared by Franklyn A. Johnson, March 3, 2001
Robert married Olyve Cole Eckler 1, daughter of Frank Arthur Eckler and Sara Olivia Cole, on 26 Aug 1920 in Fillmore, , New York, USA. Olyve was born on 16 Mar 1899 in Mendon, Monroe, New York, USA. She died on 19 Dec 1963 in Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D.C.. She was buried in Mendon, Monroe, New York, USA.
They had the following children.
421 M i Franklyn Arthur Johnson.
Robert also married Catherine Law Stage in 1966.
248. Orrin Burnell Skinner (Fannie May Fuller , Rebecca Carr Whitfield , Frederick John , John ) was born on 6 Sep 1889 in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, USA. He died on 27 Aug 1966 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Orrin married Ruth Agnes Wemmer on 12 Nov 1921 in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, USA. Ruth was born on 9 Oct 1891 in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 422 F i Helen J. Skinner.
250. Gertrude Florence Skinner (Fannie May Fuller , Rebecca Carr Whitfield , Frederick John , John ) was born on 6 Mar 1903 in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, USA. She died on 18 Sep 1956 in , Los Angeles, California, USA.
Gertrude married Barron Archer Beckham, son of James H. Beckham and Minnie A. Farguhar. Barron was born on 17 Apr 1900 in , , Kentucky, USA. He died on 21 Feb 1964 in , San Diego, California, USA.
They had the following children.
423 M i Barron Burnell Beckham. 424 F ii Jeanne Dellucia Beckham.