Bad Day at Block Rock - errrr - Make it Bad Year.

Molalla1 · May 24, 2020

Doofy said:
He was a man with very little that was always willing to share with what he got. He put feeding the birds and pups before feeding himself. I sure enjoyed his stories.

Yes . . . . :thumbsup:

lilranch2001 · May 24, 2020

I didnt realize he had touched so many of us with his kindness

Doofy · May 24, 2020

Jim appeared to be an Honest-to God Cowboy and the simple things in life was what he knew and lived. He reminded me of Will Rogers with his homespun yarns and sayings.

Molalla1 · May 24, 2020

lilranch2001 said:
I didnt realize he had touched so many of us with his kindness

Yes he did . . .

Doofy said:
Jim appeared to be an Honest-to God Cowboy and the simple things in life was what he knew and lived. He reminded me of Will Rogers with his homespun yarns and sayings.

Jim was a solid man that was honest, period.

Crash325Daughter · Jun 15, 2025

Wanda A said:
Hi to all of Crash 325's friends. I Have the sad news to post that he perished from smoke inhalation in a fire that destroyed his desert home and workshop on the evening of May 11, 2018. His real name was James Earl Johnson, (he used the name Earl Lee to honor our first stepfather who raised him until he joined the Navy) born Nov. 17, 1939, in Aztec NM. He is survived by his sisters, Wanda Ann Johnson Steffen Dickson Dibble and sister Judy Lee Ogas (Tin) 1 nephew, 1 niece, 1 grand-nephew. (And relatives - mostly cousins - we have lost track of over the many years). His remains were cremated and will be scattered on our grandfather's old mining claim to lie with our grandfather, mother and deceased nephew's ashes. As everything of his, along with some of our stuff, except for his vehicles was destroyed by the fire we are lucky to have this web site with his many postings to have something of his left for us.

Thanks so much for all of you being his friend and becoming concerned when you didn't hear from him for so long. I am his sister, WandaA, Tractor by net user name, and joined to see old family pictures he posted. I looked things up right after the fire and then haven't been back until today. Yours truly, Wanda Dibble

P.S.
I just read all your nice posts back to my brother's last one. He was in bad health, but not what killed him. Don't have report of where fire started but I do know he liked to smoke in bed and had cautioned him against it. We don't know what happened to all the dogs. Two were not stranger friendly or even to the family for that matter. One of his latest adoptees as near as I can determine was a big black dog that was taken in by a neighbor. All were seen after the fire so did not perish in fire. I live in Tombstone AZ. Wanda

Well, I was shocked to find this when I was searching to find out if my father was living or dead. James Earl Johnson was my father, and he went by the name "Jim Johnson" from at least 1967 to 1996. He largely abandoned me in 1972 when he and my mother separated. I last saw him in 2006, when I stopped by his home in Escondido for one last chance for him to show some interest or care. I gave him all of my contact information, and I never heard from him. I occasionally searched to see if he had passed away over the years since. It took a crazy amount of an internet deep dive to find he was posting on this forum and that he had passed away.

I'm sorry to see that among the survivors, my son and a son he had before the marriage with my mother were not mentioned. He also abandoned his son, and I only heard of him in 1991 when I got to spend some time with my grandmother.

I don't know what happened to Jim that made him abandon his children. It's not something I can imagine doing to my child. He never got to meet or even know of his amazing grandson because he chose not to be a part of his daughter's life. I saw him about five times before I was 18. Once he came to pick me up when I was 8 or 9. I was in the front yard with a friend, and he wasn't sure which of us was his daughter.

I got in touch with him again when I was an adult, and he didn't have the excuse of my mother being an issue (in truth, she wasn't). Again, it was all up to me to maintain the relationship. He talks about whether or not he's a good person in one of these threads. He was affable. I can't speak directly to what kind of person he was, except that he was the kind of person who was either unaware or didn't care about the hurt he caused one little girl in this world. I loved him and I wanted to have him in my life. I'm sorry for whatever may have happened that prevented him from having that.

lilranch2001 · Jun 15, 2025

We all have our demons, Crash I’m sure had his, but many of us who never met the man thought of him as a friend!

Crash325Daughter · Monday at 1:01 PM

It is interesting to read his posts. I do see there are some good gifts in my life that might not have happened if our family had stayed intact. I have a happy, long marriage (21 years), a great son, a successful career, and my mother was extraordinary and dedicated to her children (I have two half-siblings).

Jim was a successful entrepreneur for three decades, founding and owning several businesses, including an Arco Gas station and Johnstone Tire store in the 1970s, a turquoise jewelry design and making business in the 1980s, and a successful fine Jewelry store in the 1990s. He had remarried to a lovely woman in the 1990s, but I guess that marriage, too, ended in divorce or separation. Maybe that's how he ended up so destitute. It's also possible he was being less than honest on an internet forum.

I visited the jewelry store once. I can still hear the voice of a guy who worked for him saying, "You're his daughter? You should be picking through the cases!". I wasn't seeking jewelry or money, though the only thing he did do for me was cosign on a car loan, which I made sure to keep up with the monthly payments and paid off. He did pay the court-ordered child support, but I grew up in humble circumstances with a mother who worked full time and never remarried. She was dedicated to us.

Thank you for responding. It's an unexpected opportunity to discuss him because I have no connection to his family or anyone who knew him, but the people on this forum who truly seemed to care for him.

lilranch2001 · Monday at 3:08 PM

I don’t mean to be cold or heartless, but you only see one side of the man.

And I’m sure you see your reality that the rest of us can never see or feel, but the truth is there’s two sides of each story….. actually three as we all know. Your side, or your mother side, Jim’s (Crash as we knew him) side, and reality.

Having gone through a couple divorces myself I know personally that very few people ever know the real truth of the failed relationships that had transpired and the split up, and Jim, being the person that we knew may have kept his side private, so that you could live the best life you could live without knowing What caused his hurts that drove him and kept him away.

Obviously, there was something that caused him to be driven away from your mother, (or you), and you probably will never know unless somehow it comes out between you and your mother.

It sounds like to me that if you have the means a good counselor would be of some benefit to you and probably your son.

Good luck with your future, in my humble opinion you have some strong genes to work with, use them to your benefit!

Crash325Daughter · Monday at 4:36 PM

lilranch2001 said:
I don’t mean to be cold or heartless, but you only see one side of the man.

And I’m sure you see your reality that the rest of us can never see or feel, but the truth is there’s two sides of each story….. actually three as we all know. Your side, or your mother side, Jim’s (Crash as we knew him) side, and reality.

Having gone through a couple divorces myself I know personally that very few people ever know the real truth of the failed relationships that had transpired and the split up, and Jim, being the person that we knew may have kept his side private, so that you could live the best life you could live without knowing What caused his hurts that drove him and kept him away.

Obviously, there was something that caused him to be driven away from your mother, (or you), and you probably will never know unless somehow it comes out between you and your mother.

It sounds like to me that if you have the means a good counselor would be of some benefit to you and probably your son.

Good luck with your future, in my humble opinion you have some strong genes to work with, use them to your benefit!

On the one hand, I agree there are two sides. I'm sharing what I know about Jim Johnson because I did know him personally. I think what I know (as little as it is) would be of interest to the people who enjoyed reading about this life. Yes, I'm starting with some of the more difficult memories that were sparked by finding out about his death in such an odd and distant way. It's also interesting to me to see what he chose to write about.

I think it's a hot take to suggest that I, as a child, did something to drive him away. My mother was married before my father and had two children. They divorced so that my mother could marry my father. Their father was a part of their life (and mine) till the day he died. I don't think it's likely Jim was driven away by either me or my mother. It's sad because whatever it was, it was his issue, and I have empathy for him. But I'm also frustrated by his kind of boneheaded stubbornness (which I inherited) at not sticking around and enduring the good and bad that is family life. I know what transpired between my parents and drove their separation. That's not a mystery for me. It had nothing to do with me, and it's their issue. I was four years old.

If you abandoned your children as a result of a divorce, that's on you, not their mother or the children. Perhaps you should consider seeking counseling.

I have strong genes inherited from both my parents. I do my best to make the most of what I have, and my son has those genes too (stubbornness and all).