Mr. Louis L. Johnson Jr.

Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson , Jr,was born to Lorean and Louis Lee Johnson, Sr., on March 13, 1953, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Affectionately called " Baba ," he was the eldest son and first grandson with an early rearing in the Smith Station community of Edwards, Mississippi, by his maternal grandparents, Wash and Sarah Allen. Even as a baby, Baba hated the city, many times refusing to visit his parents in Chicago; he was a country boy forever.

As a very young man, Baba had a passion for riding horses, raising pigs and cattle, watching westerns such as Rifleman, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza, and enjoying his lunchtime daytime drama, Days of our Lives, with his favorite character, Stefano DiMera, and nighttime drama favorite, Dallas, with J. R. Ewing. O'Neil Drive residents often heard the pig calls of Soowie, Soowie as he rounded up his escaped pigs.

Baba was the apple of his grandparents' eye especially his grandfather, Wash, traveling the countryside to churches and mimicking Daddy Wash in praying and singing hymns. Louis Lee Johnson, Jr., accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church at a very early age. He was the protective brother of two sisters, Lynda Johnson and Vivian Johnson.

Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson, Jr. , graduated from Edwards Jr. High in Edwards, Mississippi, and Hinds County Agricultural High School, and Utica Junior College in Utica, Mississippi. In addition to his formal education in Mississippi, he attended Bishop College in Dallas, Texas.

Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson, Jr. , was an avid sports fan. He played baseball and football at Hinds AHS in Utica, Mississippi. With his desire to become a great baseball player, he excelled at Utica Junior College and Bishop College on baseball scholarships. Because of his love and deep passion for sports and community, he began to coach baseball for the youth in the Edwards community in 1971.

In 1973, Baba began driving school buses for Hinds County public schools. Often times, he would be requested to travel with the sports teams because he was dependable and gave sound advice to players and coaching staff. Baba continued to drive the children of Hinds County until 2021.

On August 8, 1976, Louis Lee Johnson, Jr. , was sworn in as a police officer for the Town of Edwards. After only a few short years, Louis Lee Johnson, Jr. , was appointed Chief of Police on April 4, 1979, under the leadership of Mayor Charlie Richardson. He served faithfully and compassionately for 39 years under the leadership of the following mayors, Charlie Richardson, the late S. K. Askew, Daron Pritchard, the late Nerissa G. Smith, James Holt, R.L. Perkins, and Marcus L. Wallace.

Upon his retirement on June 25, 2015, Louis L. Johnson, Jr. , was one of the longest-tenured serving Mississippi Chief of Police. In the 1980s, Baba with his little league baseball team, the Edwards Pirates, were so successful that they won the Babe Ruth Little League World Series Tournament in North Carolina and won a multitude of City of Jackson Little League Championships. Eventually, he saw a decrease in the interest of baseball with the youth in his community and an awesome increase in the sport of basketball. So, Chief Johnson quickly switched ALL of his focus to basketball. He was the head coach of six basketball teams: Boys 17 & Under, Boys 14 & Under, Boys 12 & Under, Boys 10 & Under, Boys 8 & under, and Girls 12 & under. The Edwards Bulldogs Boys teams won a plethora of championships and competed on the state and national level many, many times. Just to name a few of their honors: numerous 1st Place City of Jackson Cartoon League Champions and State AAU Championships throughout the southeast and several out-of-state tournaments. The Edwards Bulldogs Girls teams also had their share of winning including the State of MS AAU Basketball Tournament in 2005.

In addition to Chief Johnson's tireless efforts to maintain six basketball teams, he also served as an assistant coach for Raymond High School, Lanier High School, and his precious alma mater, Hinds Agriculture High School. Baba was known across the state of Mississippi and nationally as the Coach who was boisterous, confident, and skilled at teaching players how to be fundamentally sound in shooting, offense, and defense.

In November of 1983, Louis Lee Johnson, Jr. , was joined in holy matrimony to Barbara Griffin, and to this union a baby girl, Kendreia Falise, was born.

Louis Lee Johnson, Jr. , received an abundance of awards and training certificates throughout his professional career: State of MS Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training, FBI Criminal Investigators Training, Home Security Familiarization, Veteran of Foreign Wars of the U. S. Loyalty Day Award, and a plethora of Certificate of Appreciation Awards throughout the Edwards and Hinds County communities. In 2021, the town of Edwards, with the prompting by Mayor Daron Pritchard, proclaimed July 1st as " Chief Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson, Jr. Day ." Another of his greatest career accomplishments was on September 21, 2012, when Hinds County Human Resource Agency renamed the old Edwards Jr. High School gymnasium as the Chief Louis L. "Baba" Johnson gymnasium. On July 29, 2023, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame named Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson as the first recipient of the Bill Hetrick Community Service Award for his hard work and dedication in caring for the youth in Mississippi.

After retirement as Chief of Police for Edwards, Mississippi, Baba still had a zeal to serve his community. So, after a vacancy was left open and the urging from many of his supporters, he was elected as Alderman-at-Large on December 5, 2017, during a special election. Baba continued to serve the town of Edwards again until June 30, 2021.

Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson was preceded in death and united in Heaven by his father, Louis Lee Johnson, Sr.; mother, Lorean Johnson McCullah; stepfather, Willie McCullah; and grandparents, Wash and Sarah Allen and Johnny and Earthalean Johnson.

Louis Lee "Baba" Johnson, Jr. , leaves behind to cherish priceless memories: his daughters, Stephanie Daniels and Takita Daniels of Edwards, MS, Charity (Jeffery) Burnley of Byram, MS, and Kendreia Johnson of Pearl, MS; one son, Devin Green of Clinton, MS; two sisters, Lynda Johnson of Dallas, TX, and Vivian Johnson of Edwards, MS; he was a paternal figure for his nieces, LaQuita Johnson of Dallas, TX, LaToya Johnson of Edwards, MS, and Alexis (Demetria) Burks of Dallas, TX; stepson, Rodrick Griffin; grandchildren, Chavin Burnley, LaTarrica Chargualaf, BreLynda Daniels, LaTarrio Daniels, Alysia Burnley, Raven Griffin, Jada Griffin, and R. J. Griffin; great-grandchildren, Sebastian Coffey, Karson Martin, and Kia'Ro Morson; great-nephews and nieces, Kenyata L. Q. (Constance) Lomax, Kolby Lomax, Breannah McCullah, Mekhi Strong, and Londynn McCullah; a host of former softball, baseball, and basketball players, the Anderson family, the Wright family, the Gregory family, and the Greater Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church family of Chicago, Illinois; and the entire communities of Edwards, Mississippi, and Hinds County, Mississippi.