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- Cemetery:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80388903
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Obituary:
The tenth of 12 children of John Hardin and Lois (Smith) Johnson, he was the only child born outside of Kansas, while his parents had temporarily moved to California to find work. The family's sojourn there lasted only six months, and they returned to Johnson County, Kansas.
His mother died of pneumonia when Myron was nearing five years of age. His father, a farmer and carpenter, felt he had no choice but to break up the large family of children that he could not support or take care of himself, and he placed Myron and his youngest brothers at the Kansas State Orphans' Home in Atchison, Kansas. Myron had many adventures while growing up at the orphanage and in foster homes, culminating in his determination to achieve an education for himself and become an architect. It would take him ten years of working his way through school while he supported himself. Completing high school and college, he graduated in 1919, the first (and only that year) B.S. graduate from the School of Architecture of Kansas State College in Manhattan.
His jobs after that included working for the architectural firm of Thomas Barber in Colorado Springs, Colorado; running his own architectural firm in Salina, Kansas, and finally, working as an architect overseeing the construction of new stores in the Midwest and California for the J.C. Penney Company, 1928-1952. He also served a year in the Army during World War I, stationed at Camp Funston, near Manhattan, Kansas, 1917-1918.
He was called "John" by his wife and "Pop" by his grandchildren. He married Edith Loree Kelly (a fellow architecture student at Manhattan) on 1 August 1917 in Alma, Wabaunsee Co., Kansas and they had four children, raised to adulthood in Columbus, Ohio. In 1945 he and his wife and youngest child relocated to Southern California, his final posting with the J.C. Penney Company before his retirement in 1952, after which Pop and Edith returned to live in Columbus, Ohio.
Myron stayed in touch with his siblings and his interest in maintaining his family ties and researching his family history remained strong. He also inherited his father's ability and love of working with his hands, enjoying woodcrafting and furniture-making. Between 1956 and 1960, at the instigation of his children and for the benefit of his grandchildren, he penned his autobiography.
After seven years as a widower, Myron died of cancer of the throat. He was cremated 26 January 1968 and his ashes were buried the following day beside those of Edith, with a graveside service at 11:00 a.m.
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