Harley Grandin begins freshman year at UC Davis

We received word recently that our cousin Harley B. Grandin began his freshman year on 23 September 2010 at the University of California Davis (near Sacramento, CA). Harley’s father Michael Grandin and his grandfather Dr. Frederick Orson "Fred" Johnson (Berkeley, CA) shared the news along with these photos. (Or click the photo at right to see more photos.)

In this photo Harley and dog Tybalt outside newly constructed Wall Dorm at UC Davis. Wall is Harley's freshman dorm for Fall, 2010. Harley's father Michael Grandin says, "It's [Wall Dorm] so brand new, they're still working on the landscaping.  Wall is one of the newest dorms in a group called Tercero on the west side of campus. Harley is in the honors program, as are most or all of his dorm mates.  He'll be taking four classes and plans to start training for triathlons.  Classes start Thursday [23 September 2010]." Tybalt had been in the family for about a month at the time of this photo. He is a gift from Harley to his dad.

Harley is a grandson of Dr. Frederick Orson "Fred" Johnson, great-grandson of Howard Alexander and Virginia McNaughton Johnson, 2x great-grandson of Frederick Orson “Fred” Johnson, and 3x great-grandson of Orson Thomas Johnson. Orson Thomas was a brother of Philip Paddelford Johnson.

As it turns out, the Johnson Family has several close associations with UC Davis. Harley’s cousin Eason Katir wrote the following to him...

Our daughter, Venita, knows many people at UC Davis, as she graduated valedictorian and now works at UC Extension, Business and Leadership program, and her husband, Raja, went through med school there, so knows the faculty and admin.

Eason’s family connections at UC Davis should be of great help to Harley. We were informed previously that Harley plans to major in pre-med. (He is also a 4.0 student and a rowing champion. See this article published 12 February 2010 on the family website.) Easan is a great grandson of Alexander Perry Johnson, a younger brother of Philip Paddleford Johnson. Reader’s may recall from this family article posted 2 February 2007 that he is also a very talented musician!

Good luck, Harley, in your college career! We wish you the best. Family members can send their good wishes for Harley to his father Michael at mgrandin(at)sbcglobal(dot)net or to his grandfather Fred at fojohnson(at)prodigy(dot)net. Eason Katir can be reached at easan(dot)katir(at)gmail(dot)com.