Carl Eric Johnson

Carl Eric Johnson, 81, passed away January 22, 2025. Eric worked in data processing as a Mainframe computer programmer at General Tire and Firestone. He attended Ohio State University, Kent State University, and the University of Akron, where he graduated in1973. Eric was very bright, inventive, curious, hard-working, and helpful. A good friend described him as genial, considerate, and a gentleman. He became the family photographer and videographer at holiday gatherings, trips, his sister’s wedding, and more. Eric loved his family and treasured memories of loved ones who had passed.

Eric was born in Greensburg, PA on June 21, 1943. When his dad was transferred to General Tire in Akron, the family moved and eventually settled in Cuyahoga Falls in the early 1950s. From childhood, Eric was interested in how things work, especially electronics and tech as time went by. When he was four, he took his grandparents’ phone apart and put it back together correctly. When he was 12 or 13, he rigged up walkie talkies and an intercom system at home, running wires down the clothes chute to the basement. He loved pipe organs, and when a neighbor happened to be getting rid of some old wooden organ pipes, Eric hooked them up to a little acoustic keyboard and built a small pipe organ in the basement. He also created a radio station at home that could broadcast nearby. His grandfather worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Eric loved trains, especially steam engines.

At Cuyahoga Falls High School, he played trombone in the school’s marching band. When a new wing was being added with new science facilities, Eric and some friends got one of the old lab tables and set it up in one of their basements, where they did experiments. They also had fun cooking up rocket fuel, making little rockets, and launching them in open fields.

Eric was a longtime member of the First Congregational Church of Akron. When its high school youth group went on a 2-week bus trip out West in 1960, Eric was their videographer, shooting black and white movies along the way.

He liked old movies and many kinds of music, including old hymns, rock and roll, classical, and more. He created a home library of music and old Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes, and horror movies, digitizing them all on his hard drive. After he retired, computer programming at home became his hobby.

Eric was very good to his family, helping his parents as they aged, doing chores and fixing things when they couldn’t. He was very generous to his sister and also helped her with repairs and technical things, describing clearly how to set up something, installing new light fixtures, etc. He would often smile and ask, “Have you read the manual?” He was interested and skilled at many things, doing his own home wiring, plumbing repairs, and more.

And Eric had a sense of fun, laughing about dealing with gadgets, critters in his yard, and a squirrel that came down his chimney one time. He enjoyed many good times with family and friends during the holidays. At Christmas, he always made pepperoni roll, which a friend described as “the best one East of the Mississippi.” And we’ll always remember fun summer times playing croquet in the backyard.

Eric was preceded in death by his parents, Carl H. Johnson and Edna R. Johnson. He is survived by his sister Kathy Johnson and brother-in-law Ed Wickline of Cuyahoga Falls; cousins in Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas; ex-wife Sandra Symons, former sisters-in law, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews; sister-in-law Teresa Stout; James (Rachel) McGuiness and family; sister-in-law Martha Lee (Bill) and family; good friend Mary Starbuck, and friends in the Akron area and far away.

There will a visitation on Thursday, January 30, 2025,11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with a funeral service immediately following the visitation at the Clifford Shoemaker Funeral Home, 1930 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221.