Bio: Johnson, Glen (Life Summary – 1963)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Johnson, Myhrwold

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 18 Jul 1963

Sometime after we came to Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.), the sash adjuster in the church office failed. I asked around as to where it could be fixed. Several said that if Glen couldn't fix it, it could not be fixed. When I asked him about it, he said, "Ti will take some time and a certain amount of "tobaccy" juice, but I think maybe we can do it. " So he did.

But the important matter was that I met a man who was and is a keen student of life, and of human nature. Although his formal schooling is small, he has learned much from life. For example, when a man comes in with a broken part, Glen recognized that he feels badly, so he believes it is also important to shoot the breeze for a few moments to give the man back his confidence. He calls this just plain crude psychology.

Some folks say that you better not tell Glen how to do a job. Glen says that there is a class of people from whom he resents directions. It includes those who think they know it all, and that he doesn't know anything. They hang over him and give him orders on every move, until he tells them to take their work somewhere else.

Glen didn't take up repair work on purpose, he "just fell into it." His father lived in Ladysmith and was a good farmer. Besides that, his dad also ran logging camps. He could make anything out of wood, which could be made from wood. Glen used to drive a team for an investment company. He trimmed the horses' hooves himself, and one day the shop superintendent saw him do it. He lived the way Glen did it, and put him to work in the blacksmith shop. From there he went to maintenance in sawmills, and came to Greenwood in the fall of 1957.

Glen knows his abilities, and enjoys a job that looks impossible. He say that people are full of surprises, and that you never really get to know them. But by trading ideas and viewpoints, you own outlook is widened. Some few bother him – those who run up a bill, then stay "bravely away." "Let them at least come in and say "hello" once in a while, so that we stay on friendly terms."

There are some things that can't be fixed, of course, "But," says Glen, "I do the best I can, and that is all I can do." And what more can you ask of a man.