Eugene "Gene" R. Johnson was born July 10, 1913 in Colorado Springs (Col.) to Carl B. and Stella (Van Winkle) Johnson. In 1931, Gene graduated from Muskegon High School (Mich.). He earned a B.S. in petroleum chemistry from Central Michigan University in1936. Gene worked for the Roosevelt Oil Co. [refinery] in Mount Pleasant (Mich.), perhaps while he was in college. From 1932 through 1942, Gene also worked at the Indiana Farm Bureau in various positions, eventually becoming the operator of a lube oil plant. In 1937 he moved to Plymouth (Mich.) to operate an oil plant there. By 1940 Gene was a chief chemist. He may have served in the U.S. Navy beginning in November 1942. By 1944, Gene had married Rosalia O. Ferner and was in the U.S. Navy Pre-Filght School in Calif. The couple divorced in October 1949 in Midland County (Mich.). Gene died on November 21, 1989 somewhere in Michigan. (This information is from the collection and the online Social Security Death Index.)
From the description of Papers, 1913,1949. 1913 (Clarke Historical Library). WorldCat record id: 61688488
