Willard Woodrow Johnson

Funeral services for Mr. Willard Woodrow Johnson, 91 of Baxter, will be held Sunday July 14 at 1 p.m. in the Baxter Chapel of Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home with eulogies provided by his family. Interment will follow in Odd Fellows Cemetery. Mr. Johnson died Thursday morning July 10, 2013 in NHC of Sparta. He was born June 9, 1922 in Baxter, Tennessee to the late William Louis and Mary Lula Johnson Sr. After serving in the US Army Air Corps during World War II, Willard along with his brother J. T. Johnson started Johnson’s Nursery in Baxter in 1946. Their father, the late W. L. Johnson started the Baxter Nursery in 1918. In 1949, the Johnson brothers built the first glass-covered green house between Nashville and Knoxville. They were the first in the state to root Japanese Hollies and Taxus yews in a greenhouse. Willard’s son, Chuck Johnson started his retail center in Cookeville in 1968. Chuck with his wife Sarah and two sons now operate the Johnson Nursery and Garden Center in Cookeville. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a daughter, Frances Palk; two sisters, Florence Martin and Elizabeth Cullen; and five brothers, Dr .Louis Johnson, Jr., Hubert Johnson, Bernice Johnson, John Thomas Johnson Sr., and Harold Johnson. Survivors include his wife of 73 years Agnes Yates Johnson (whom he married May 28, 1940 in Albany, Kentucky); son and daughter-in-law, Charles “Chuck” W. and Sarah Johnson of Cookeville; two daughters and sons-in-law, Betty and Dr. Ray Troop of McMinnville and Louise and Richard Charles of Cookeville; five grandchildren, Jennifer( Dr. John) Little of Knoxville, Charlie (Rebecca) Johnson, David (Susan) Johnson all of Cookeville, Russell ( Michelle) Palk, and Beth Palk all of Franklin, TN; 12-great grandchildren, John Grant, Matthew, and Sarah Frances Little; Conner and Cooper Palk; Callaway, and Abbey Palk; Leah and Foster Johnson; Anna, Emma, and Will Johnson. Pallbearers will be Charlie Johnson, David Johnson, Russell Palk, John Grant Little, Matthew Little, John T. Johnson Jr., Harold Johnson, Sandy Stanton, Dr. John W. Johnson, and Dr. William Louis Johnson, III. Mr. Johnson’s family will receive friends Saturday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. until service time at the Baxter Chapel. Memorials may be made to the Frances Johnson Palk Scholarship Endowment at Tennessee Tech University, PO Box 1915, Cookeville, TN 38505. Hooper-Huddleston and Horner Funeral Home, Baxter Chapel, is in charge of arrangements (931)858-2134. You may share your thoughts and memories at www.hhhfunerals.com.