Jim Johnson ’65

No matter where he goes, Jim Johnson ’65 is always a Lancer. “I live all over the country: in Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado and Arizona, but everywhere I go, Gilmour seems  to be a part of my conversations. For a tiny school, it comes up an awful lot.”

 

According to Jim, his time at Gilmour equipped him with the infrastructure to build a successful life. “The Gilmour experience was great for me. I had never been an academic or athletic star, but because Gilmour was so small and so supportive, I was able to earn seven letters and had the opportunity to go to college after I graduated.”

 

Jim attended Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, and he says he felt ahead of the game.  “Most of my classmates struggled with being away from home, but for me, I had already had four years of that. I owe my comfort in college to Gilmour.”

 

After he finished college, Jim returned to the family business he had worked at since he was 14: Russell Standard. “My grandfather started the company in 1929. I worked for him, then I worked for his son, then I took over. It’s the only job I’ve ever had and when I retired, my son Matt became the fourth generation of our family to run the company.” Jim says it gave him great pleasure to watch his grandfather’s legacy grow over the years. “When I started, we only had about 50 employees and about $5 million in sales; but now we have 500 employees and about $250 million in sales.” The company provides specialty asphalt products and preservation treatments.

 

Jim says that desire for growth was instilled by his experiences at Gilmour. “I competed in track and wrestling, which were very important to me. They taught me a lot about perseverance.”  And there were a few people on campus who also had an outsized role in Jim’s development. “Brother Ivo, in particular, was a true character.  But Vern Weber was my coach, and I can’t overstate how important he was. It’s funny to think, because when I knew him, he was only in his late 20s, but he seemed so much more mature than we were.  It taught me that so much of age is really about how you carry yourself in the world.”

 

And it wasn’t just the staff who made Jim’s years at Gilmour memorable. “I’m still in touch with many of my classmates, like Chip Dawson, Peter Wolff and Bill Weisser. All of the guys I went to school with were and still are great friends, and Gilmour helped us all to be really very successful.”

 

As Jim thinks back over the life he has lived so far, and thinks of the challenges he has faced along the way, he says he is continually inspired by the philosophy of Jimmy Valvano:  to try as hard as you can for as long as you can and to not  ever give up.