Blind Since the Age of 20, Shelley Johnson walks a beaten path.
Nicknamed “Bear” by his mother Attie, 55-year-old Shelley Johnson has been walking along the roads between his dented trailer and the Pleasant Grove Separate Baptist Church for the past 25 years. Blind since the age of 20, Bear makes the mile journey to his church every Sunday and whenever an uplifting, soul searching revival meeting is held.
If not to church, Bear will venture up the street to Johnson’s Grocery (no relation) to buy some Grape Nehi, snack cakes, a quart of milk or whatever simple staples he can afford that day .
The native of Liberty has adapted to a life of sightlessness and God. “It used to bother me being blind; it use to when it started getting bad, but it doesn’t bother me no more,” Bear said.
Bear listened to the radio, absorbed in the All-American sport of baseball. He did not go to bed until late that night, 11 p.m., so he could hear the Cardinals defeat the Giants 6-5 in a play-off game. It was a temporary diversion from his favorite gospel and country music stations. The radio has gone from a commodity to a necessity for Bear.
He relies on the small box for its entertainment value and to tell him when to eat his meals, leave for church and go to bed.
His visitors are few. Occasionally neighborhood kids will visit for something to do and bring Bear his favorite, a Milky Way candy bar. He is, however, assured of a once a month visit from his social worker from the county social service office.
A short distance from Bear’s silver trailer live Leo and Lois McFarland. They are friends of Bear and own the land he lives on.
“He wants to stay here. They talk to him and try to get him a place in town, but he won’t do it,” Lois said. “We’ve had him here so long it wouldn’t be home without him.”
