Steven Lewis Johnson

Steven Lewis Johnson, 69, of Anna, and formerly of Carbondale, died at 12:20 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2016, at his residence.

He was born on Oct. 6, 1946, in Carbondale, the son of Jesse Noel Johnson and Alice (Wyatt) Johnson.

Survivors include a daughter, Aislinn Elizabeth Johnson of Carbondale; a brother, Larry Alan Johnson of Littleton, Colo.; cousins Michael Johnson of Anna, Sue (Tomlinson) Bain, David Martin Johnson, Rosanne Johnson and Marilyn Johnson.

He grew up in Carbondale and attended Brush Elementary School, Lincoln Junior High School and Carbondale Community High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Southern Illinois University and continued with postgraduate studies for several years.

Early on he managed area McDonald’s, Burger King and Hardee’s restaurants for more than a decade. He was the owner of the Carbondale Mel-O-Creme doughnut shop for four years and developed a wider sales area, delivering to area eateries and several campus buildings.

He was an instructor at Shawnee Community College and managed the computer lab and teleconferencing program. He even “moonlighted” as a bus driver for the school, taking student groups and teams to events around Illinois and several neighboring states.

After “retiring” he was employed at the Anna Kroger store for more than six years. During this time he also taught driver improvement courses for the State of Illinois.

For decades, he was a serious avocational photographer and had his work featured in a number of Illinois tourism publications. He had award-winning nature and landscape images displayed in local shows, and maintained a fine website showing his work, still to this day.

He traveled the scenic parks, streams, lakes, orchards and woodlands around Southern Illinois and regularly took photo trips to the Smoky Mountains and the Rockies. One of his Colorado images was featured in the national magazine “Cowboys and Indians.” He loved the beauty and grandeur of nature.

He was proud of a gallery of large black and white prints he made which are on display at the Giant City Lodge, and which were also seen in the Ben Affleck film “Gone Girl,” which was partially shot in that area.

He relished the grand movie soundtracks of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, classic Broadway musicals, and the music of Mathis and Streisand.

The people at Stinson Library in Anna knew him as a voracious consumer of audio books, frequently borrowing from area libraries to meet his demand. Over the past six to eight years he averaged nearly a hundred novels annually.

Graveside services were Thursday, Sept. 29, at 1 p.m. at Oakland Cemetery in Carbondale. 

Walker Funeral Home & Crematory was in charge of arrangements.