By Lenette Myrick, Special to the AFRO
On June 8 West Baltimore resident Coy Lester Johnson Sr., will be honored on the occasion of his 100th birthday to be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the St. Elizabeth Nursing Home, 3320 Benson Avenue, Baltimore, 21227. Mr. Johnson is the patriarch of five living generations, including three children, 12 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren. He now joins the distinguished ranks of Baltimore centenarians.
Mr. Coy Lester Johnson, Sr., the patriarch of five living generations, will celebrate his 100th birthday on June 8. (Courtesy Photo)
Coy L. Johnson was born in Edgecombe County, N.C., on June 4, 1919, to Charlotte and Robert Johnson. He was the fourth of five brothers who would become known around Rocky Mount and Tarborough, N.C., as “the Johnson boys.” In 1938, he married Blanch Elizabeth Kea of Edgecombe County, and a year later the couple and their first born, Lucy, moved to Baltimore during the second great migration of African Americans seeking a better life outside the Jim Crow south. The family first resided in the Sandtown-Winchester community, and when they expanded with four more children, they moved to Cherry Hill. The family eventually took root in the Bentalou community of West Baltimore, where Mr. Johnson lived with his wife until her passing in 1997.
The family welcomes the media to come and meet this amazing centenarian at his 100th birthday party on June 8 from 2 to 4 pm. For more information contact Lenett Myrick at 443-857-2402 and/or nefnfx@gmail.com