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Note: NI10 Shirley (Peters) Johnson: written in tribute and read by Shirley at Danny's funeral
Danny's was born Nov 3, 1936 on Granddaddy Bridwell's birthday
In Cleveland Oklahoma. Mother always told us that Danny was conceived in Texas, that's why he's bigger than his siblings.
Danny always lived to capacity.
In 1939 Mother was so ill that we had to move to a high, dry climate. On Thanksgiving of that year, we were in Cleveland with our Grandparents for the holiday. Cousin Jimmy began taunting us, telling us that our Daddy had left us and would not come back, that we would be left alone. Danny kept saying no, no..and then there was a knock at the door and a telegram was delivered ..from Daddy�who wrote "come, come,come" I don't think it happened this way but it seemed to me we got up from the table and headed for Colorado. We must have left soon though because we arrived in Colorado in November of that year.
We had our few suitcases and rode the train..at each stop Danny would ask, "Is this where my Daddy is?' Finally it was� and Daddy met us in Colorado Springs.
We moved into a small apartment and financially things were tough but for Christmas Daddy made a wagon for Danny out of wood scraps from the lumber yard and for me, they somehow came up with a doll and Mother made her clothes
We moved a lot in the next few years and added two brothers to the family - Mike and Pat
Danny and Dad did a lot of fishing those years. - and my recollection is sitting and shivering in the back of a borrowed pickup truck at 3 in the morning so that Dad and Danny could have their hooks in the water at sunrise.
Coming from such modest background we never dreamed much about seeing the world but it must have been there in our genes what with an uncle who joined the Merchant Marines at age 16 to see the world (Mother traveled extensively and we even have a photo of her on a camel in Egypt when she was in her 70s) and Danny had the bug too. After Danny graduated from high school he joined the Air Force and served in Goose Bay Labrador and San Bernardino, California. When Vietnam reared its ugly head, Danny was there, running the non-com club and making people happy. He traveled to Tokyo to buy gifts for the GIs to send or take home to their families. He started an orphanage for the children of Vietnam (and received the Vietnam Medal of Honor for his services to the children of that country) He came to visit us in Houston between tours of duty in Vietnam. He was visibly shaken but he had to go back. He had to serve his country. Living life to capacity!
He was later stationed in Washington State, Thailand and Oklahoma City.
After he retired he came back to Colorado to go fishing with Dad and he and Freddie and their family stayed until after Dad's death.
When he and Freddie felt called by God to go to Haiti as missionaries he gave his all, just as he always did. I remember his description of how the Voodoo drums would start when he escorted the medical teams into the backcountry. And I remember a phone call in which he said they had to get out of Haiti because of the political uprising. I heard gunshots in the background. Danny was living on the edge again�to capacity..
When Danny brought his family back to Oklahoma City, he threw himself in to his church and loved taking the seniors on trips, starting a Food Pantry for the Poor, dishing out Thanksgiving meals, but as time passed, his past began to catch up with him.
For all his service in the Air Force and service to God in Haiti he paid a big price. In Vietnam he had been inadvertently sprayed with Agent Orange, he developed blood poisoning after working on a holiday project for the troops at DaNang. In Thailand he got pneumonia and his lungs collapsed. He was hospitalized for six weeks. In Haiti he encountered pesticides that affected he and his helper seriously. He then got dengue fever, the bone smashing disease-. All of this took a heavy toll on his body and by March 19, 1995 he needed a heart transplant to continue living.
Danny was given almost six years of life through that transplant and he lovingly let the recipients parents know how grateful he was. These six years have not been easy but he managed to travel as much as his doctors would allow, once even getting permission to go back to Thailand with Freddie. They came to see us during this time and Danny said he wanted to go to the top of the mountain. We live at 8,500 ft and were concern ed that the altitude would keep him from staying with us but he brought oxygen (although he didn't use it) Danny wanted to go to the top of the mountain. We drove to Mt. Goliath at 11,000 ft. and questioned him, are you all right, should we go back, at 13,000 ft Summit Lake we asked again and then he said let's go and we went and he stood on top of Mt. Evans at 1 4,234 ft. He made it to the top. He got out and walked around. I still remember the look on his face. I like to remember my brother on the top of the mountain. He was living to capacity.
When I reminisce on my brother's life I recall the words of the Apostle Paul at the end of his life,
"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."
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