Blog no. 45

Miles Bateman Johnson was born on June 18, 1934, in Santa Fe, Maury County, TN, to Thomas Earl Johnson and Laura Adele Sowell. He had 6 siblings, and their names were Thomas Eugene Johnson, Claude Rogers Johnson, Margaret (Johnson) Beard, Marilyn Miller (Johnson) Duffield Stevens, Martha Maney (Johnson) Hay, and half brother, Jesse Karl Johnson.

On June 4, 1954, in Maury County, TN, Miles married Elizabeth Dean Vandiver. They had three children. Their names were Dennis Roy Johnson, Cynthia Carol (Johnson) Hodge, and Timothy Wayde “Tim” Johnson.

On August 18, 1973, in Robertson County, TN, Miles married Betty Jane Gilliam. Miles and Betty never had any children together, they both had children from another marriage. Betty had been previously married to a man named Milton Ewing Beard and had three children with him. Their names were Janice Marie (Beard) Whidby, Calvin Lewis Beard, and Melvin Eugene Beard. 

Miles and Betty lived at 945 Old Kedron Road. They lived there for many years until the 1990’s when a fire damaged the home so badly that the remains had to be bulldozed. They quickly rebuilt and continued to live on that property until the early 2020’s.

In the mid 2000’s, Miles became the Vice Mayor underneath Mayor Danny Leverette, after being an alderman. Around that same time, Miles gave the right-of-way for a parkway to be built near his property in Spring Hill, TN. Before the parkway was named, it was jokingly called Johnson Parkway by the Board of Mayor and Alderman, until his wife, Betty, mentioned that there are so many Johnsons, so why not name it Miles Johnson Parkway? The road was officially named Miles Johnson Parkway in 2008, during his term as Vice Mayor, in appreciation of Miles. Along with being in the city’s government, for many decades, Miles was a worker for the UCAR Carbon Co. plant in Columbia, TN.

Sadly, on September 20, 2023, at the Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, TN, Miles died. He was buried at Santa Fe Cemetery in Santa Fe, Maury County, TN. Miles will be remembered for his time in the city’s government and his largely driven parkway in Spring Hill, TN.