Kenny Johnson

William Kenneth "Kenny" Johnson
Son - Brother - Husband - Father - Uncle - Friend
1981 - 2009

This is sad news. My 28 year old son-in-law Kenny Johnson tragically passed away on October 13, 2009 at his home in Waldorf, Maryland. I wanted to share this with all of you to ask for your prayers for his soul and for his family and all those who love him, especially my daughter and young granddaughters. I wanted to create this page as a place where family and friends and all those who love Kenny can leave their thoughts, prayers and memories of him.


Kenny was born May 30, 1981 in Clinton, MD, the son of William F. Johnson, Jr. and Rhonda Marie Simard. He loved everything about cars and racing and was always working on one thing or another. He was an auto mechanic his whole life, working many years at Sears Automotive and he loved racing at Maryland International Raceway (MIR), Budd’s Creek, MD where he won a class trophy.


He loved his two baby girls so very much and they love their daddy still. I remember telling him when Kaylie was born that his whole world was about to change and that he would understand what that meant the moment he looked into those those big beautiful blue eyes under that mop of red hair. And that he did.


I'm old fashioned and was raised that it's disrespectful to wear a hat in someone's house. I remember when Kenny began dating Jean he would always walk in the house wearing his hat and I'd remind him and he would always take it off with a "oops" sort of grin. He meant no disrespect, he just always wore hats everywhere, even inside and it got to be a running joke with him. I would always remind him and once or twice even removing it from his head myself..lol.


Then there was the time he was at the house for dinner. Jean got up from the table and was getting a drink from the fridge and I asked her to grab me a beer. Kenny jokingly said "Get me one too" in a "get me my beer, woman" kind of tone and no sooner than he said that than the chair he was sitting in gave out. Sitting directly across from him, I'll never forget the look on his face for that fraction of a second before it sunk below the level of the table and all we saw was chair parts flying and arms and legs flailing. We laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes and we were just joking about it the last time I saw him for my birthday in August.


Another fond memory is from Christmas day 2001 when Kenny had planned on asking Jean to marry him. We all pretty much knew they were going to be engaged and were sitting in the living room and he was getting ready to ask when Stephanie jumped up and shouted, oh no you don't! She grabbed him, pulled him aside and told him that he better ask me for my permission and blessing FIRST! Kenny asked me if he could talk to me in the kitchen so in we went and he asked me for Jean's hand. I told him that as long as he loves her and promises to take care of her, he of course, would have my blessing.


Kenny is survived by his parents William F. Johnson, Jr. and Rhonda Marie Simard; his wife, Jean A. Johnson; daughters, Kaylie Grace and Jaydin Elyane Johnson; maternal grandmother, Geneva Jaeger; brother, Robert J. Simard, II of Waldorf, MD; sisters, Millisa Ann Blake of Nanjemoy, MD; Crystal M. and her husband Brian Hektoen of Mechanicsville, MD; step-mother, Cecelia Ann Johnson; Godchildren, Joseph and Olivia Scheungrab; nieces, Breanna Blake and Jenna Hektoen; nephews, Frankie and Devin Hardesty and James Doering and his best friends who were more like brothers, John and his wife Stephanie Scheungrab of Waldorf, MD and Michael Hamilton of FL.

Visitation will be Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2-4 and 6-8PM at Raymond Funeral Chapel, 5635 Washington Avenue, La Plata, MD.

The funeral Service will be Monday, October 19, 2009, 11AM at Raymond Funeral Chapel and he will be laid to rest on Monday, October 19, 2009 in the Trinity Memorial Gardens, Waldorf, Maryland.

Kenny was a good man, a good father and a good friend. He will be missed as a part of our family and will always remain in our hearts. May eternal light shine upon him and may he rest in peace.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Kaylie and Jaydin Johnson Education Fund via PayPal at KayJayFund@yahoo.com or by clicking the button below.

William Kenneth "Kenny" Johnson
Son - Brother - Husband - Father - Uncle - Friend
1981 - 2009

On School Prayer

Recently a friend on Facebook sent me a message asking me to pray to have the Lord's Prayer allowed back in school again and it made me think about that very issue and I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.

This is certainly a tough topic because it involves the much misunderstood and abused topic of "Separation of Church and State".

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."

There are obviously two parts. The first part prevents Congress (or the incorporated states) from establishing a "state" religion; the second part (largely forgotten about and wrongly superseded by misinterpretation of the first part these days), states that they cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion. Your religion, no matter what that may be. Public ridicule of other religions or complete rejection of all religion is NOT free exercise of religion, but it may be general freedom of speech if done properly and not in a belittling or provoking manner. People also do have the right to be wrong.

Though some would have you believe otherwise, the free exercise of YOUR religion on public property is not state sponsored establishment or endorsement of religion in any form and neither is a public display such as a nativity, a menorah, public prayer or any other such thing. In fact, the second part (no law...prohibiting the free exercise thereof) guarantees that RIGHT.

What it does do however, and is seemingly lost to us, is teach us two things. First to be tolerant of other people's faiths and second is to be strongly grounded in our own, whatever it may be. If a preacher or an atheist on every corner is such a threat to you as to cause you to question your own faith from block to block, then perhaps the problem isn't with them, but with yourself. If you're firmly grounded in your faith no amount of public preaching or displays will sway you from what you know in your heart to be true so all the public prayer and all the public displays of faith won't change what's in your heart. And so it should be. Isn't that one of the founding principles of Christianity?

Since the First Amendment prevents state endorsement of any one religion or force anyone into or out of any religion, it cannot force school children to pray. But more importantly it cannot restrain the free exercise of religion, even and ESPECIALLY on public property and that means they cannot stop a child from praying if they so choose!

While I do believe that the lack of religion and spirituality in our lives has caused immense moral decay in America, the lack of prayers in school wasn't the cause. The lack of prayer in school is merely a symptom of the lack of prayer in our lives, most importantly in our families.

I believe nobody should ever be forced to pray as prayer must come from the heart and a sincere desire to communicate in our relationship with God through prayer. You can't have a functional relationship with dysfunctional communication. I do agree that children should be taught to pray properly, but it should be by their parents who have a responsibility to train their children well the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Turning the tide of morality in America must begin at home and there will be no immediate results. You must have faith that by planting that seed now and teaching your children well and be being good examples of faith and morality, you are indeed supplying the future America with what is perhaps her most abundant resource; the faith in the American heart.

God's Blessings,
Bob