William Cone Johnson died on Jan. 21, 2015, in Denton, Texas, at the age of 88. A visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 6, 2015, at Mulkey-Mason Funeral Home in Denton. His cremains will be interred at I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Denton at a later date. Survivors include his wife Patricia (Pati) Haworth of Denton, daughters Deborah Lynn Johnson and partner Gordon Lex Berlin of Dallas, Cynthia Kay Johnson of Chesterfield, Virginia; and Barbara Anne (Johnson) Smith and husband Jeff Smith of Dallas. Cone was preceded in death by his maternal grandmother Edna Westbrook Trigg, first home demonstration agent in Texas and founder of the Tomato Clubs, forerunner of 4-H; great-uncle Abner Westbrook, mother Eloise Trigg Johnson, father Earle Clay Johnson, and sister Eloise Johnson Grumbine.
Cone was born on Nov. 20, 1926, in Eastland, Texas. His parents named their only son for his paternal great-uncle Cone Johnson, a Texas attorney and politician who served as a solicitor in the State Department under Woodrow Wilson, served on the first Texas Highway Commission and framed the bill establishing the first Texas Railroad Commission.
In 1933, Cone's family moved from Eastland to his maternal grandmother's farm at the south end of Avenue D in Denton, then, in 1936, to Parkway Street in town. Cone began working before age 10, throwing newspaper routes for the Denton Record-Chronicle and Fort Worth Press. At age 12, Cone also began holding drip ether for a local physician during tonsillectomies. He also handled baggage at the downtown bus station and, two years later, drove soldiers on buses to and from Camp Howze on weekends. At the same time, he began working, and sometimes living, at Denton Hospital where Martin Luther Holland, MD, mentored Cone in many areas of medicine, including obstetrics; at age 13, under Holland's close supervision, Cone delivered his first of several babies born at an unwed mother's home in Lake Dallas.
Upon graduation from Denton High School in 1943, Cone attended Kemper Military Academy in Booneville, Missouri, prior to entering the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1944. Following training in San Diego, he was assigned to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. Overseas assignments as a medic on destroyers and destroyer tenders in the Pacific soon followed, with postings in the China-Burma Theatre and Japan. Not yet 20 years old, Cone often was the sole medical authority onboard ship.
Upon discharge in 1946, Cone returned to Denton, where he completed a bachelor of science degree at North Texas State College under Dr. J.K.G. Silvey in 1949. Cone enrolled in the University of Texas-Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston in 1950 and was licensed as a physician upon graduation in 1954. During his internship in Galveston, Cone treated Benny Goodman, Sophie Tucker, Phil Silvers and Babe Didrikson Zaharias, among other celebrities.
To meet expenses during his senior year at UTMB and internship, Cone enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1953. He was stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, Gunter AFB in Alabama, Kindley AFB in Bermuda and Lackland AFB in San Antonio. Upon separation, he served on staff at Scott & White Clinic and consulted at the Veterans Administration hospital, both in Temple, Texas. After leaving Temple, Cone saw patients in a private practice near Methodist Hospital in Dallas. He was accredited as a Designated Aviation Medical Examiner, II-II, in 1966.
In 1970, Cone and his family moved to Abilene. As the region's first board-certified pulmonologist, he saw patients from as far away as New Mexico, rode circuit to hospitals and clinics in a 100-mile radius, and served as director of sleep medicine at area rural sleep clinics. His practice emphasized pulmonary physiology and rehabilitation, environmental diseases and sleep medicine. Cone's service at two medical schools included a 20-year tenure on the clinical faculty of University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Cone was active for many years with the American Heart Association, for which he was instrumental in bringing CPR training to Texas. A quality individual and gifted, resourceful physician, Cone first listened to his patients, then skillfully practiced the art of medicine buttressed, but not overshadowed, by the science of medicine. Cone was designated a Fellow by both the American College of Chest Physicians and the American College of Physicians and a Diplomate by both the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
Throughout college and medical school, Cone played clarinet, saxophone and piano in professional jazz bands. He later joined the American Federation of Musicians. In the mid-1980s, Cone actively supported Abilene Christian University in a successful effort to bring a National Public Radio station to West Texas. His support included an offer to host a weekly 3-hour jazz show. "All that Jazz" with Dr. Jazz is now a 28-year Sunday-night staple. The show, which tapped Cone's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz musicians and recordings, will continue to air at KACU-FM 89.7 and stream on kacu.org.
A longtime supporter of the UNT jazz program, Cone was named recipient of the UNT One O'Clock Lab Band Award each year, 1979 to 1983, and traveled with the One O'Clock Lab Band as its in-house physician on its European tour in 1982. In addition, Cone provided much quiet support to UNT jazz faculty, students and guest artists through the years.
In 2000, Cone closed his office practice in Abilene and moved to Denton but continued riding circuit until 2011. In 2004 and 2005, he taught at Texas Woman's University School of Physical Therapy in Dallas. At the time of his death, Cone was in his 61st year of active medical practice and was serving as a contracted consultant at Denton State Supported Living Center.
In recognition of Cone's lifelong respect for jazz musicians and support of the genre, the family requests memorials be made to the University of North Texas (UNT) College of Music, noted to Jazz Studies/Cone Johnson memorial, and mailed to 1155 Union Circle #311367, Denton, Texas 76203-5017.