Walker Pitts Johnson, Jr.
Delivered January 26, 2001
Before the Macon Bar Association
By Judge Hugh Lawson
Walker Pitts Johnson, Jr., Chief Judge of the Superior Courts of the Macon Judicial Circuit, was born in Coweta County, Georgia, on February 23, 1937. He died in Macon, Georgia, on August 19, 2000. His span of sixty-three years was a life of considerable accomplishment and service.
Judge Johnson was educated in the public school of Coweta County. He received his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1959 and graduated from the Emory University School of Law in 1962. At Emory he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order and the Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity. Judge Johnson was a superior scholar and was early on recognized for his academic ability.
Following graduation, Judge Johnson began the practice of law in Newnan but shortly thereafter accepted appointment as an attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, a position which allowed him to actively pursue the implementation of his deeply held beliefs in human rights. Continuing his career as an assistant United States attorney, Judge Johnson moved to Macon in 1966 and joined the staff of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, where his abilities were recognized and rewarded by his appointment as Interim United States Attorney.
In 1970 Judge Johnson left the federal service and re-entered private practice with the Macon firm of Anderson Walker and Reichert, where he remained until his appointment as Assistant District Attorney for the Macon Judicial Circuit in 1971. He again rose to the top like a cork and became District Attorney in 1976, a position he held until appointed to the Superior Court in 1977 where he remained for the rest of his life. As judge he was re-elected five times without opposition and was on the ballot unopposed for a sixth term when he died.
A review of his career demonstrates that Walker Johnson was a man of uncommon legal ability, wisdom and common sense, whose services were constantly sought by public and private interests.
Judge Johnson served for six years as Administrative Judge for the Third Judicial Administrative district and was chairman of the Committee of District Administrative Judges of the Council of Superior Court Judges. He served as a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia which sets statewide policy for the entire system of courts of the state, and makes recommendations to the General Assembly for the creation of new judgeships.
For many years Judge Johnson was an adjunct professor of law at the Mercer Law School where he taught a course on Georgia practice and procedure. His courtroom reputation for sagacity followed him to the classroom where his popularity as a professor never failed to fill the lecture hall. His warm interest in the up and coming members of the legal profession made him the preferred advisor of countless new lawyers.
It seems trite to say that as a judge Walker was firm but fair; however, that truly sums it up. He insisted that all litigants be fully heard and was patient with those whose claims were meritorious only in their own minds. His temper, if aroused, was usually directed at those who were overbearing, grasping and patently selfish, and at lawyers who were unprepared or neglectful of the interests of their clients. In terms of discipline his courtroom was a haven of peace amid the maelstrom of human conflict which inhabits a courthouse, for a glimpse of Judge Johnson's bushy countenance leaning forward to identify some miscreant was always sufficient to lay the wind and quiet the waves.
Judge Johnson had a two-track mind. He was able to oversee litigation with one track and read books, briefs and orders simultaneously with the other without losing control of the proceedings or being caught out when objections were made. When I told him that my attempts to master this technique resulted only in reversals, he cheerfully suggested that I apply myself with renewed vigor to a mastery of the technique, and observed that he was only reversed when the appellate court was in error.
Judge Johnson was a man of deep religious conviction and a devoted member of the Vineville United Methodist Church where he served on all the boards and committees and taught a Sunday School Class. His distinguished appearance was such that upon meeting him for the first time most people instinctively knew that he must be either a man of the cloth or a magistrate and if the former, a bishop, at least, and if the latter, on a high bench. Such instinctive assessments were as accurate a reflection of the sentiments of the man in his walk with his God as they were of his professional life as a judge. And, of course, the fact that he was the son-in-law of an outstanding Methodist minister gave strength to his backbone in rare moments of temptation.
After his religion and profession, Walker's passion was the outdoors. He was a fisherman, a hunter, a camper and a keen observer of nature. He enjoyed nothing more than sitting around a roaring campfire on a cold night in the swamp with several fingers of bourbon in a cup and a carton of Camels and a box of kitchen matches within easy reach. It was in those moments that his prowess as a taker of wild game was at its peak, and as the years went by he caught fewer and fewer fish from the warm security of his sleeping bag on frosty mornings. But he loved to go and when the opportunity presented itself, he went.
Judge Johnson fell in love with Katherine Gardner Wilson, married her on June 29,1968, and lived happily ever after. He was absolutely devoted to Katherine and their two children, Walker, III, and Gardner. He delighted in his home, took refuge in and sustenance from it, left it reluctantly and always returned to it with great anticipation and joy.
Walker Johnson was a great Georgian, an outstanding lawyer, a peerless judge, a dedicated public servant and humanitarian, and a boon companion. The unique combination of qualities which endeared him to and enriched the lives of his friends and professional associates will not recur in our time and we are much the poorer in his passing.