Geological Society of America Special Paper 321 pays tribute to the late J. G. Johnson
J. Granville "Jess" Johnson made major contributions in geology and paleontology, specifically to the areas of middle Paleozoic biostratigraphy, taxonomy, and biogeography of brachiopods and conodonts, sedimentary tectonics, and sequence stratigraphy. Special Paper 321 of the Geological Society of America is a collection of 20 papers dedicated as a tribute by Jess's colleagues and former students. Five of the papers are on sequence stratigraphy and related topics (ranging from the Ordovician through the Devonian), six are on biostratigraphy (graphic correlation, Devonian and Carboniferous conodonts and fish), five more are on Silurian and Devonian biogeography and paleogeography, and three are on the paleobiology of Silurian and Devonian corals. The volume is introduced with a memorial tribute written by Jess Johnson's close friend and colleague John A. Talent of Macquarie University.
Following are excerpts from John Talent's "The Inimitable Jess Johnson:"
At about 1 p.m. on July 5, 1994, with wife Miriam and daughter Jeanette at his side, John Granville "Jess" Johnson, hero to brachiopod and conodont workers and to lovers of things Devonian, passed away painlessly from pneumonia at his home in Corvallis, Oregon. Jess's broad spectrum of elegant contributions in the fields of paleontology, stratigraphy, paleogeography, paleobiogeography, and sedimentary tectonics--and especially his holistic approach to such matters--marks him as having been one of the more seminal minds in contemporary sedimentary geology.
Jess produced almost 200 publications that included some 25 incisive contributions on eustatic events, extinctions, speciation, tectonics, stratigraphic concepts, and faunal provinciality. Jess had a remarkable capacity to shed light where there didn't appear to be any. He was a fount of wisdom and unpretentious charm, totally lacking in chutzpah. He uniquely stimulated all who came in contact with him and was always generous in giving prominence to his coworkers. He was the powerhouse in most of the enterprises in which he became involved.
There were already three children--Marlene, Jeanette, and Carrie, the last only 6 weeks old--when, in early October 1959, Jess contracted the bulbar-spinal poliomyelitis that was to leave hem permanently debilitated, paralyzed from neck to waist and with virtually no diaphragm function.
It was 11 months before Jess emerged from hospital. For the rest of his life, except for brief intervals, he had to be attached to a respirator, night and day. He required regular attention from Miriam and other family members, or at work, from a medical attendent. There were to be two more children: Valerie (deceased) and Ian.
He continued to teach and do research at OSU for almost 25 years, until death took him. His physical condition notwithstanding, Jess was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and then full professor in September 1978. During a highly successful interlude, from January 1986 to August 1988, he was an efficient and more than usually compassionate head of department.
Jess supervised four graduate students for the Ph.D.: Richard Aertes Flory, Roy Edward Smith, Thomas Lee DeKeyser, and Constance Jefferson Sansome. He supervised 27 for the M.S. and influenced a substantial number of undergraduates as well; most worked on aspects of the geology of Nevada.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Jess was an uncommonly good teacher, always well prepared, always quick with illuminating insights and droll repartee. Typical was one occasion when, while he was lecturing, one of the students noticed that Jess's respirator had come free from the power point and swiftly plugged it in again. "That student gets an A!" dryly observed Jess. In 1977 Jess received the OSU College of Science Carter Teachng Award for "inspirational teaching."
Jess was a lover of words, both prose and poetry. In his later years every week or so he would pump out an elegantly worded letter to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, taking the conservatives to task, demolishing their logic, and inter alia, defending the core values of a liberal society. In this, as in everything else, he was fearless, like a later-day Ambrose Bierce. Jess developed an excellent rapport with the editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Norm Lewis. Like Bierce, Jess was always seeking new ways to phrase double entendres and turn cliches inside out, unleashing them with devastating effect. To some of his targets he must have been as popular as a hedgehog in a long-jump pit.
And now that Jess is no longer with us, who will take his place? I, for one, can't think of anyone! We have lost not only a great mind but a powerful catalyst as well. He has established a lofty benchmark for future workers concerned with sedimentary geology in general and with things mid-Paleozoic in particular. I suspect it will be a long time before anyone in the earth sciences with such a physically fragile frame will have a comparable commitment to productivity and excellence.