Meet Our New Membership Chair
Don Johnson
June 24, 2018
We would like to introduce our new membership chair but before we do, we would like to thank Mr. Ray Garratt and his wife Valerye for the past 12 years they chaired our membership committee. Through these years under the leadership of Ray our chapter grew to be the largest in all of ACBS.
Now let’s get to know our new membership chair Mr. Don Johnson
I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I met my wife, Sandy, on a blind date in 1971 and we were married within a year. We have two children. Our son, Lonnie, and his family live in Carmel, Indiana. Our daughter, Kelly, and her family live in Rising Sun, Maryland. I was the Environmentalist for a Nuclear Power Plant for 40 years.
Boating for me started in 1955 on the Cedar River on my grandfather’s 1947 Thompson. In the mid 70’s Sandy and I traded our 1963 Corvette Coupe with our friends for their 1967 Larson cutty cabin and we then spent 40 years boating out of Guttenberg, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. Over the years we owned a variety of boats, some of which Sandy knew about and others that I somehow bought and thought I could keep secret until she and our daughter realized there was something more than just bushes down in that tree line at the very back of our property. Currently I have a 1959 Century Coronado that has just completed restoration this past winter by Old Time Boat Company.
I have served for various boating organizations and clubs over the years including Commander for the Cedar Rapids Power Squadron and Commodore of the 611 Yacht Club. I joined ACBS in 1995 and served as Vice President, then President of the Clear Lake Iowa Chapter. I joined the Sunnyland Chapter in 2006.
Upon retiring in 2011, Sandy and I built our new home in The Villages, Florida. We became full time residents after selling our summer home in Guttenberg, Iowa, in 2014.
Other hobbies include rerecording music from various mediums onto CD’s for my own Music Library, and having a few remote control cruisers that I cruise with the Villages Model Boat Club. In addition, I’ve been involved with the National Council of Corvette Clubs for the last 50 years. Sandy and I have owned at least 20 of those plastic toys over the years. We enjoyed showing, racing and dragging those cars.
I look forward to serving the Sunnyland Club as Membership Chairman and hope that I can continue the great work of Ray Garratt, who for the last 12 years, has kept the ship righted for the very fantastic club we now enjoy.
Don Johnson
