Bipeds of Brookland: E. Franklin Johnson

Bipeds of Brookland:

Introducing the people who make Brookland their home, one step at a time.

E. Franklin Johnson

E. Franklin Johnson served in the South Pacific in WWII, and was fortunate never to see combat. The war ended just after he arrived in the Philippines. He moved to DC from Richmond, VA in 1960 and bought his house in Brookland in 1963 with his wife. “It was an affordable neighborhood,” he says. Their third daughter was born after they moved in.

Mr. Johnson worked for the Naval Hydrographic Office, which later became part of NOAA. He remembers storing data electronically on an IBM 360 mainframe computer. “We had keypunch people who put data on paper cards that could be fed into the computers.”  

He retired as an oceanographer in 1984, and then volunteered with Meals on Wheels for over 20 years. “We picked up the meals that were prepared at Providence Hospital, and delivered across Northeast DC. We had to discontinue the service a couple of years ago due to lack of volunteers.”

He has seen many changes in the neighborhood over 50 years and remembers fondly how close he was with his neighbors. “This was a neighborhood that we did projects together, we helped the neighborhood, and we even vacationed together. Several neighbors had kids the same age as mine. We went to Skyline Drive when they were young, and stayed long weekends in cottages. We went to Ocean City two or three times with the kids. After the kids grew up, two or three couples went to the Poconos together.”

Sadly, Mr. Johnson’s wife passed away in 2011. He remains in the same house on 14th Street and is always happy to talk with neighbors, old and new.