Wylie Pierson Johnson (Uncle Wylie) recently had an email correspondence with his cousin Frederick Orson “Fred” Johnson, II, and Fred’s son-in-law Mike Grandin regarding college plans for Mike’s son Harley Grandin. Harley has one more year of high school, so he’s visiting colleges and universities right now, several of them in the East, to see which one is best for him. These are lengthy trips as the Grandins reside in San Francisco. Grandpa Fred, who lives in Berkeley, took young Harley to visit Cornell this summer. This was of particular interest to Uncle Wylie who had spent some time there himself in 1943 during WW-II complements of the Navy. The Navy sent him to diesel school there. Uncle Wylie says that he was “impressed with the variety and number of engines and equipment in the labs at Cornell.”

Asked what profession Harley wants to pursue or has he set any goals for himself, his father Mike replied,

Harley wants to be a psychiatrist, so he is looking for a school with a good pre-med program.  He also wants to continue rowing.  He's a lightweight and that means going east if you want to be where the action is. His list includes Trinity, Williams, Cornell and U. Penn, all excellent schools.  His "backup" would be UC Davis, which has an excellent premed program, but isn't strong in lightweight rowing.  I'd love it if he got into Williams and decided to go there. He's a 4.0 student with a combined SAT of 1990.

Mike added,

BTW, his older sister, Sarah, is in the honors program at Stanford and carrying a 4.0 GPA.

Harley’s grandfather Fred is the son of Howard Alexander and Virginia McNaughton Johnson, grandson of Frederick Orson “Fred” Johnson, and great-grandson of Orson Thomas Johnson. Orson Thomas was a brother of Philip Paddelford Johnson. FOJ, II is thus second cousins, once removed to Uncle Wylie.

Fred has always kept in close touch with his Alabama cousins. Seth and Neva Johnson family members may recall that Fred visited with us at the family reunion here in Alabama in 2004, quite a trip from Berkley! On another trip, Fred, Uncle Wylie and James Hill visited the high points of several Southeastern states.

Always, glad to see you in Alabama, Fred! And best of luck to your grandchildren and to Harley in his search for the best college or university. With their excellent grades they can write their own ticket!