Thomas Charles Johnson

Johnson, Thomas Charles "Little Tommy"
April 17, 1037 – June 29, 2023

Thomas Charles Johnson died June 29, 2023, at the age of 86. Born in Short Pump, Virginia in the back room of an ESSO Station, the small family lived with his mother's sister until his father was sent to Norfolk, Virginia to work as a mechanic for the navy during the build-up to the war. He had one sibling, Patsy.

Music was an important part of his life from early on and it came naturally to him. He had perfect pitch and never had any formal training, but by the age of 14, he was playing professionally in the officer's clubs and bars of Norfolk. He played Dobro guitar and moved to the saxophone and vibraharp discovering his love for Jazz music. He sometimes played 3 gigs a night, going from one to another and was a sought-after player up and down the east coast. He toured with Ray Charles and played with Miles Davis among others. He even played with a young Jimi Hendrix.

Margaret Anne Price was a talented dancer who caught Tom's eye in 1960 at the Norfolk Officer's Club and they married in 1962. After a stint at Virginia Tech, he started designing homes and working as a draftsman which started his interest in Architecture. Their only daughter was born in 1964 and they built their family home on the Elizabeth River spending many hours on their boat, catching, and cooking fresh seafood and enjoying life.

After a road trip in 1965, the mountains of Colorado kept calling and they moved to Northglenn, Colorado in 1970. Music took a back seat while Tom attended classes at the University of Colorado in Boulder to pursue his dream to become an Architect. He started CHP Design Group and after 7 years of college classes, Tom became an Architect in 1980 and continued designing homes for over 50 years.

Tom not only designed homes for astronauts and sports figures, he also designed the largest Coca Cola bottling plant on the west coast and a Peterbilt trucking factory. He built homes in Roxborough Park alongside his partner and daughter Kamala who worked with him for 28 years. His legacy will remain forever in the countless homes he created.

His marriage ended in 1980 and with a void in his life, and not having music in his life for over 10 years,
Tom joined a local band playing saxophone for small private parties and events. It was at a church picnic in the summer of 1981 that he saw Donna Cook working the hot dog booth. After 10 hot dogs, he got up the courage to ask her out and it was love at first sight. They married on Valentine's Day in 1982. Donna had a 12-year-old daughter, Dawn.

They built a Jazz Club in the basement of their home in Roxborough Park and had many huge parties with live bands. Tom joined in on a few sets and they shared lots of wine and great food with their huge circle of friends and neighbors. They traveled extensively to Mexico, Germany and the Caribbean and lived a fun-filled life until Donna's sudden unexpected death in 2016 which broke Tom's heart.

Being an Architect meant everything to Tom, and he worked full-time until 7 weeks prior to his death. He always said he would die "over his drawing board, drafting pencil in hand", and he basically achieved that goal.

Tom is survived by his daughter Kamala Quintana (KQ), stepdaughter Dawn Booth (David) and grandkids, April Davis (Zach), Christine Booth (Alex) and John Booth (Shelby).

A private family celebration of life will take place later in the summer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you donate in Tom's memory to Magic Moments: https://magicmomentsinc.org/.