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Herman
Frithjof Johnson A biography by Helen Pomerance Johnson Download a Copy of Herman's Bio Herman was born on April 15th, 1906 in South Chicago to Swedish immigrant parents. His Father was John Knute Frithjof Johnson, age 21 and his Mother Anna Marguerite Peterson, age 33. His Mother was attended by Dr. Harriet Sparrow. Herman and his 3 sisters attended Myra Bradwell Elementary School. He graduated on Thursday evening, June 24,1920. As Herman's father died in the 1919 flu epidemic, Herman went to work as a messenger boy for a Railroad Company. During this time he completed his high school credits at the YMCA. He then went on to Lewis Institute of Arts and Sciences and received his Bachelor of Science Degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology on June 12, 1941. At age 35 Herman enlisted in the Army and since he had pursued medical studies for three years at Loyola University. As Herman had taught himself Gregg shorthand and typing he was assigned as a stenographer to perform duties of medical secretary to the Chief of surgical service of a general hospital. He took dictation and typed letters and other correspondence, supervised office personnel, and did filing, indexing and record keeping. Herman spent 31/2 years in England on the Wales border. He tells the story about getting weekend passes to take the train to London to see plays. One weekend they denied him the pass because every time he was gone there seemed to be a trainload of injured soldiers arriving. But that weekend no train arrived. But the next weekend they allowed him to go to London and a train arrived. When the War ended Herman was discharged at Fort Sheridan and decided to enlist in the reserves as he thought we might go to war with Russia. Herman spent 20 years in the reserves attending one night a week, one weekend a month and a two-week session every year. He was discharged on March 22, 1962 as a Chief Warrant Officer, W-3. Herman always had a job, as he was proficient in shorthand and typing. So after the War he went to work as a property consultant for the Cook County Department of Public Aid. He retired from this position about 1968. As Herman was growing up his family spoke only Swedish. Then as he was about to enter Kindergarten they started to speak English. As a result, when Herman was an adult and studied Swedish he had perfect pronunciation. When visiting Sweden, the natives were sure that he had been born in Sweden. When he studied medicine he also studied German, and when he worked for the Cook County Department of Public Aid they asked all employees to learn Spanish. Herman was fluent in all three foreign languages and continually read in all three. He always had his dictionaries by his chair and they were in constant use. In 1935, Herman lived in Hyde Park in a building with many artists. One of the ladies was dating Farmer Brummit in Chesterton, Indiana. When Brummit divided some of his farmland into 10 lots of 5 1/2 acres each, 10 residents in this building bought one each. Herman purchased lot #3 for $500. A few years later the buyer of lot #2 sold his to Herman, which now gave him almost 12 acres of beautiful wetlands. So in 1936 he built one room and the WPA put up a privy (which is still standing on the property). When Herman returned from WW II, he put a basement under the one room so that his Mother could live there comfortably. He added the porch, which became a kitchen (with a toilet and shower in the corner.) After Herman started to folk dance he built a large room about 40 x 50 feet and called it "Herman's Barn." He put in a beautiful dance floor that served for many, many years. In the late 1970's Herman added a bedroom. He dug out the basement, poured all the cement and put the room up all by himself. A few years later he took one corner and made a bathroom with a shower. After the War Herman stopped by International House and joined Folk Dancing that had been started by the Lewis sisters, Charlotte (Chili) Chen and Jerry Joris Lindsay and continued for some time by Vyts Beliajus. When Jerry left Chicago in 1960 she asked Herman to become the instructor which he did for three years. In the early 1950's, Beth Fawkes began a folk dance group in Hyde Park (Folk Dance Associates) in which she taught many of the dances she learned at Stockton Folk Dance Camp. Herman was a regular visitor so that he was able to teach many advanced dances at International House. In 1967 Herman and Paul Collins ran the summer folk dance program in the parking lot behind Ida Noyes Hall. The Folk Dance Leadership Council was born in the middle 50's. In the early 60's Herman and I were putting out a mailing as to where to find Folk Dancing in Chicago and suburbs. I was impressed with Herman's ability to type rapidly and accurately. I also recall what a great dancer he was so that in line dances I would stand next to him and knew I had a 50% chance of being asked for the following partner dance. In the 50's Herman began to give twice a year folk dance parties at his "Barn". He would make 5 or 6 main dishes from the United Nations Cook Books, many salads and vegetables and deserts galore including his famous fudge from the recipe that was on the Hershey cocoa can. 70 or 80 dancers would show up on a Saturday night, eat on card tables with cloth tablecloths and then watch a dance movie that he borrowed from the Public Library. The dancers would dance into the night. As his equipment began to fail, the dancers presented Herman with a real PA system including 3 turntables, a tape recorder and a microphone you wear on your body. What a difference that made! As the group aged, Herman then had Sunday afternoon parties starting with dessert at 1:00 PM. Eventually age caught up but not until Herman had run these personal dance parties for some 30 years. In the early 70's, Fred Zucker announced that he was starting a folk dance group at Frances Parker School and every other dance would be a partner dance. Herman asked me to be his partner and I gladly accepted. I would come and go on my own, but Herman danced every couple dance with me. About this time Herman proposed, but since I was still teaching and he was retired, I declined. But in 1976 I asked him if the proposal was still open and said that if it were, I would accept. On Election Day, November 2, 1976, Herman and I were married by a Judge in Chesterton, Indiana. As we left, we placed some 300 announcements in the post office. When we returned we heard about all the calls back and forth, "Did you hear the news?" Herman's next Folk Dance party turned out to be a reception by the dancers. In 1999, Herman developed an ulcer on his foot that became infected. Unable to save the foot they had to amputate his left leg from the knee. Herman's spirits were tops even though he was in a wheelchair and dependent upon me for all of his needs. He read constantly and only slowed down as his eyes began to fail him. On Christmas Eve Day, 2004, Herman began to show signs of trouble and after his MD made a house call, he was admitted to Rush Hospital. He was found to have an infection in his urine and was unable to swallow correctly. Herman was too weak to determine the exact causes so they kept him comfortable for five days. Herman died at 4:25 AM on Wednesday, December 29, 2004, just 3 1/2 months from his 99th birthday.
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