Eddie "Ed" Lee Johnson

Eddie Lee, Big Ed, Dad, Grandpa, Grandpa-grandpa has arrived at the place he endeavored to arrive at… heaven.  After a protracted battle with a myriad of health issues, he passed peacefully at home with his wife, Patricia.  

Born in Blum, Texas, and raised in the Ft Worth/East Texas area where he attended Cleburne HS, Ed played center for their amazing varsity football team.  He was offered a college scholarship but elected to go to work instead to help support his widowed mother.  Ed began working for the Mountain Bell Telephone company and would stay with them through several name changes retiring in 2005 with over 50 years of service.  

His telephone lineman career was briefly interrupted when he was drafted into the US Army and assigned to a medical team working as a corpsman.  Stationed in Germany for training exercises, he saved more than one life with his quick thinking as catastrophe struck when a tank rolled over.  After his honorable discharge from the military, Ed returned to the telephone company providing exemplary service with a return rate of less than 1% (something rarely achieved in the field).  

He married Lola Dean Graves in 1955, and later adopted two children, Elizabeth LeAnn (so her initials would match his) in 1967 and Weldon Scott Johnson in 1971 (named for Weldon Barton, the father-in-law he admired greatly). LeAnn and Scott’s children called him Grandpa.  Levi’s children dubbed him Grandpa-grandpa because he was grandpa twice over.  

After Lola’s passing in 2016 following a long health decline, Ed was getting back out into the world when he saw a woman at Whataburger who looked sad.  He empathized and went to speak to her.  Fast forward a few weeks and Patricia and Eddie Lee were inseparable.  They completed each other in a way the rest of us pray we will find.

His time with Patricia was a re-birth. He smiled, laughed, went places, saw shows and people.  He grew to love and support Patricia’s Del Toro family as fiercely as his own.  They did everything together, from enjoying meals to enjoy even more shouting at the TV during Dallas Cowboy football games.  

This remembrance would be incomplete without mentioning he was “Whataburger Grandpa.”

Google it, it is a thing.  

Ed’s friends, Sal, Mary and Albert, at his favorite westside El Paso Whataburger presented him with a birthday surprise a few years ago and his well-connected granddaughter, Emma, put him on her Twitter account where the event went viral.  Ed was still getting recognized when he was in the hospital.  He loved it.  The gift that never stopped giving. 

Known for his jokes, smiles, teasing, and loving nature, Ed Johnson was loved by all.  Everyone he encountered, no matter the circumstances, would most likely leave his side with a smile on their face.  He loved his Dallas Cowboys, UTEP Football boys making it into the big time, telling jokes, making friends, and most of all loving family.  His intense dedication to family started with his marriage to Lola and never wavered as he began a second life with Patricia.  There was no amount of work, support, dedication, and love that was too much for him.  He would do anything to support his family and friends.  

Ed Johnson is preceded in passing by his wife, Lola Dean Johnson; son, Weldon Scott Johnson, and grandson, Christopher Lee Huguley. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Del Toro Johnson; daughter, Elizabeth LeAnn Carr, son-in-law, Douglas John Carr, grandson, Levi Adam Weldon Johnson, Levi’s wife, Lisa Marie Elliott Johnson, their children, Christopher, Charles (Charlie) and Sadie; granddaughter, Emma Lorena Grace Carr;  Scott’s children, granddaughter, Jessika Johnson Didier, Jessika’s husband, Skylar Didier, their children, Xzavier, Archer and Logan; and grandson, Zackary Kane Johnson.

Also survived by the Del Toro Family:

Frances Del Toro, Frank (Cynthia), Andres (Dr. Vivian), Salvador, Isabel, Fernando III (Georgina), Henry, Adrian, Yolanda, Melanie, Reno, J Edward Del Toro.

Whataburger Family:

Mary Lopez (bacon, egg and cheese fairy), Albert Barron (cowboy coming, have his order ready right away), Daniel and LeAnn Peacock, Darryl and Karen Flossi, Jake, Sal (started WB grandpa)

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the linked GoFundMe. Proceeds will be distributed to: Vinton (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department, El Paso Aqua Posse Swim Team or UTEP Athletics for student support.  He loved first responders; his grandson, Christopher Huguley was one.  He loved swimming: his daughter, LeAnn, coaches swim teams and his granddaughter, Emma, and great grandchildren, Chris and Charlie, swim.  Ed loved football and supporting his local UTEP boys.