GUICE WINFIELD JOHNSON
Born Sept 25, 1893 and was the 8th and last
child of William Harrison Johnson
and Nancy Wood
Guice
first married Anna Wilson Kingsted, daughter of Danish emigrees. Their marriage ended in divorce in
1937. Guice worked in many
locales: with his brother he was
co-owner of a bakery ar Aransas, he worked in or owned bakeries in many places
in Texas and in Clovis, New Mexico, owned or worked in restaurants, and he
farmed in Beeville, Texas. The last
years of his life, Guice lived in Hereford with his second wife Fern, whom he
married sometime in the 1940's.
Guice
played the banjo and guitar, but preferred the banjo. He was probably a diabetic, though he
denied it. This condition was
complicated by alcoholism. In 1955
he had a blood clot on his ankle which eventually forced the amputation of his
leg. Several years later he was
forced to have the other leg amputated.
His son said it was probably during this second surgery that he
died.
Pearson
thought Guice was probably always diabetic, and he was born to a severely
diabetic mother. When they were
small, both boys stole sugar from the pantry. In an attempt to cure this about 1897,
Thomas made them sit and eat sugar until they became ill. Pearson said he never stole sugar again,
but Guice continued to snatch it whenever he could.
Guice's
only child, Guice Wilbur Johnson, said his mother thought other children might
make fun of him by calling him "Windy" or "Junior" if she
used his middle name "Winfield" and a "Jr." after his
father. She chose
"Wilbur" as his middle name because it started with the same letter
as his father's middle name.
Guice Wilbur said
that Lyndon B. Johnson told him that their fathers or grandfathers were cousins
from Georgia. From research done by
Carolyn Smith, it appears that there might actually be some blood relationship,
but probably it was their great-grandfathers who were cousins.
Guice
Wilbur and his wife Marge (nee Margie Virginia McManeus) now live in Florida
where he is retired from the Air Force.
They married 28 March 1948 and lived in many parts of the world before
retiring to Punta Gorda, Florida. One
of Guice's hobbies is amateur radio and he was Region Two Director of the USAF
MARS network for fourteen years and has been Deputy Director for the past four
years. He has written numerous
anecdotes of his experiences with pets and other animals as well as a column
for the MARS newsletter.
Marge, who grew up in Orlando, loves her gardening, walking, and also
has an amateur radio license.