Judge Derwood Johnson

Honorable Gene Derwood Johnson passed away Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at the age of 95, in Waco, Texas.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, August 22, 2024, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home in Waco. There will be a visitation the evening prior to the service from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in the Garden Room at the Funeral Home.

Derwood was born July 22, 1929, in Cranfills Gap, Texas, to Olaf and Tomena Knudson Johnson. He was a descendant of Norwegian pioneers to Bosque County, Texas. While always proud of his heritage, he fervently believed in the American Dream and the liberties and freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States. Derwood was industrious from a young age, and as a youth in Bosque County he picked cotton in the fields during summer for a penny a pound; on a fair day he would sack a hundred pounds of cotton and get a dollar. In better times, he sold political newspapers published by W. Lee O’Daniels and netted two or three cents for every nickel paper he sold.

In 1943, he and his family moved to Waco after his father’s general store in Cranfills Gap burned to the ground. He graduated from Waco High School in 1947, Baylor University in 1951, and Baylor Law School in 1955. He also spent six weeks at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland studying World History. While in school, Derwood worked for the Waco-News Tribune, first as a paperboy, then as a district circulation manager until he began his career in law, a career path he decided on at around the age of 10.

After five years in private practice in the law offices of Harold Clark, he ran for Precinct One, Justice of the Peace in McLennan County in 1960. He won against his first, and last, opponent. He was later elected Judge of the County Court-at-Law, and in 1968, he was appointed to the 74th District Court by Gov. John Connally to finish the unexpired term of Judge D. Y. McDaniel. During his judicial career, he presided over more than 1,000 jury trials and worked with about 11,000 McLennan County jurors. He served as judge of the 74th District Court until his retirement on December 31, 1992, but his retirement did not end his service to the judiciary. Derwood continued to serve as a Senior District Judge well into his eighties, taking assignments to preside in courts across the state.

Derwood married Ann Elizabeth Fowler of Mart, Texas, September 25, 1959. They were married for 62 years before her death in 2022. He was a member of the Waco Home Builders Association and built several homes, including his own, in his father’s subdivisions, Viking Hills and Sharondale. Derwood was an officer in the Texas National Guard and was called to duty to serve in downtown Waco as part of the 143rd Infantry’s response to the 1953 Waco tornado. Derwood ultimately obtained the rank of Brigadier General in the Texas National Guard where he served for more than 30 years.

In 1982, Derwood served as master of ceremonies at a luncheon in honor of King Olav V of Norway when the king visited Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Bosque County to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Cleng Peerson’s birth. Peerson was a frontier settler responsible for significant Norwegian immigration to the United States. Derwood contributed research to several publications, and in 1982 he published the book Norge I Texas with Odd Magnar Syversen about Norwegian immigration to Texas. He was also an executive member of the Norwegian-American Historical Association and genealogical chairman of the Bosque County Norwegian Society.

Derwood was baptized at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church in Cranfills Gap and was a long-time, devoted member of First Lutheran Church of Waco.

Derwood was preceded in death by his wife; his parents; his sister, Jacqueline Froelich; brother-in-law, Robert Fowler; sister-in-law, Bonita Fowler; and niece, Melissa Alvis.

Derwood is survived by his daughter, Sara Bashaw and husband, Ed; his son, Matt Johnson and wife, Melissa; his daughter, Karen Reeves; his son, David Johnson and wife, Ashley; his grandchildren, Nathan Baschez and wife, Sonia; Jane Baldwin and husband, Steven; Matthew Johnson, Bennett Johnson, Meredith Reeves, and Anna Johnson; his great-grand daughter, Sofia Baschez; his sister-in-law, Dorothy Heflin and husband, Jim. He is also survived by nieces and nephews, Jay Heflin, Scott Heflin, Becky Kester, Bob Fowler, Valeska Sather and Michael Froelich.

Special thanks to Derwood’s caregivers: Gloria Mann, Kimberly Baker, Annie Turner, and Delesia Thompson who all lovingly assisted with his care over the last two years.

Pallbearers will be Matthew Johnson, Bennett Johnson, Steven Baldwin, Charles Gillette, Andy McSwain, Stuart Redding and Bill Coleman. Honorary pallbearers will be all current and former members of the McLennan County judiciary.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Derwood on his “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.