There followed a meteoric rise through the FDNY ranks: lieutenant at 32, captain at 36 and battalion chief at an almost unheard of 38 years old.īut it was in late summer, 1990, when he was based in arguably New York City’s most famous firehouse - Engine 54, “The Pride of Midtown” with its jaunty motto: “We never miss a performance” - at 48th Street and 8th Avenue in the heart of the Theater District, that John’s life changed forever. At 21, John assumed responsibility for being “the man of the house” and a surrogate father for his 16-year-old brother, Mike. Tall but graceful, handsome with dark wavy hair, he grew to be 6 foot, 2 inches tall and carried 250 pounds on a lean, athletic frame.Īfter passing the fire academy’s rigorous physical and written exams in 1980, John, who was class valedictorian, became a rookie firefighter the same year his father died. John led the singing and played the music, usually Irish ballads and folksongs, for all manner of family and neighborhood gatherings. John sang like a diva (think Ronan Tynan) and could play a number of musical instruments including guitar, piano and trumpet. He excelled in the classroom, read widely favorite histories, biographies and the classics. From his earliest days, he aspired to leadership roles - at home, his neighborhood and at school. Peggy and Walter’s precocious son, John, was something of a prodigy. Johnson teaches kids the history he lived Walter, a Navy veteran, was a New York City firefighter, and his wife, Peggy, was a determined woman who worked her way up from secretary to vice president of the local bank, an almost unheard-of accomplishment for that “Mad Men” era. Home was Rockaway Beach, a small, close-knit, predominately Irish-Catholic community on a narrow peninsula shaped like a long, bony finger jutting out between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. John followed older sisters Ellen and Mona and would precede the last of the couple’s children, baby brother Mike.
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