Background
Carl Johnson was born in Sims, Indiana on July 2, 1929 to Fredrick Chancy Johnson (1902 – c 1975) and Enabel Routh (1907-c1945).
Carl Johnson was born in Sims, Indiana on July 2, 1929 to Fredrick Chancy Johnson (1902 – c 1975) and Enabel Routh (1907-c1945).
He had the following siblings: George Johnson (1927 − c 1992). Derrold Johnson (born 1931). And Sarah East. Johnson (born 1939) who married David L. Mort (1937–2005).
He was raised in Grant County, Indiana.
At age 12 he came down with tuberculosis, and though he overcame the sickness his growth was stunted. He began a strict weightlifting regimen and developed proper eating habits that allowed him to overcome his physical weakness.
At least once in his later life, he would have to have cysts from the tuberculosis infection removed. Carl married Kathryn Van Deusen (1923–2005).
Kathryn was the daughter of Emmett Peter Van Deusen I (1878–1965) and Margaret McKenzie Barton (1885–1963).
He entered service in the United States Army on July 3, 1946. As a corporal, he was stationed in Guam as a surveyor. lieutenant was largely an uneventful tour of duty, with the exception of while surveying the island"s jungles he found a wrecked bomber from World World War II that still had the pilot"s remains inside.
He was discharged from Army service on March 18, 1949.
He later became an Army Reservist and obtained the rank of Colonel. He went to Michigan State University and the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
He had a master"s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976 he was the Director of the Jefferson County, Colorado Department of Health.
He reported that soil around the Nuclear Weapons Plant contained 44 times more plutonium than the government claimed.
In 1977 he reported higher-than-average rates of leukemia and cancer among the local people. In 1980 he reported that plant workers had eight times more brain tumors than expected. In 1981 he was fired.
In 1985 he lost an election to become the Boulder County, Colorado Director of Health.
Johnson died on December 29, 1988 at Lutheran Memorial Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado of complications following coronary bypass surgery. He was buried in the Fort Logan National Cemetery in Colorado on January 3, 1989.