Palestine High School Alumni Association

09 / 24 / 1901  –  01 / 28 / 1995

Memorial service for Walter Edgar Johnston, 93, or Palestine, will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church with Rev. Michael Glenn officiating.  Cremains will be buried at Roselawn Park under the direction of Bailey & Foster Funeral Home.  Mr. Johnston died Saturday in Palestine.  He was born in Palestine on September 24, 1901, to William Jackson and Mary Elizabeth Walker Johnston.  He retired from Missouri-Pacific Railroad in 1966, holding the position of Auditor of Small Roads in Memphis and St. Louis.  Mr. Johnston graduated from Palestine High School in 1919, and was licensed to practice law in Texas in 1925.  He attended University of Texas and Georgetown University in St. Louis.  He married Lottie Mae Griffith September 16, 1925.

He was honored as a “True Southern Gentleman” in 1963 by the Memphis, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.  He was a long time member and secretary of Crystal Lake and a 70 year member of the Masonic Lodge.  He had served as co-treasurer of the Palestine Organ Club for 25 years.  Mr. Johnston was a member of the Palestine Rotary Club and a paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.  He was a member of the Episcopal Church.  Mr. Johnston was preceded in death by a sister, Nettie Estelle Johnston in 1941.

He is survived by his wife, Lottie Mae Johnston of Palestine; son, Walter Leroy Johnston of Palestine; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Pallbearaers will be Walter L. Johnston, Jr., Don Atkins, Jacob Atkins, Put Crabtree and Rotarians.

Memorials may be made to the American Red Cross, 911 S. Magnolia, Palestine, Texas

Source: Palestine Herald Press