From North Carolina-About five or six times a year, the telephone rang in the Johnson household in the middle of the night, and Robert C. Johnson Jr. did his best to handle the needs of a stranger in crisis.
A career as an Episcopal priest armed him with the skills to counsel others, but his friends and family say Johnson had a particular gift for truly listening to people. It was a strength that helped in matters of life or death, such as when he worked with the local suicide-prevention hotline. For years he served as the emergency contact, called only when hotline workers found themselves in over their heads.
His wife of 54 years, Connie Johnson, remembers a call from a woman from their church who was fearful for her children and her own life at the hands of an abusive husband. Johnson picked them up and brought them back to his house. The next day, after the woman’s husband had sobered up and left for work, he drove her back to gather some belongings and then took her to refuge with a family member.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/16/3707903/former-bishop-robert-c-johnson.html#storylink=cpy
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