Robin Anthony Johnson

Robin Johnson, a resident of Eldorado, Santa Fe, passed away on August 24th, 2018 of respiratory failure at St. Vincent’s Hospital, surrounded by people he loved. He is survived by his daughter, Rhiannon Johnson, and his family in the United Kingdom: his brother, Ted Johnson of Cardiff; his sister, Geraldine Johnson of Cheltenham; and his sisters-in-law, Kay Johnson, of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and Vivienne Johnson, of Swansea; and much extended family on both sides of the Atlantic. We will all miss you, Robin. Robin was born in 1938 in Barnet, Greater London, to Dorothy Price Johnson and Edward Arthur Johnson. The family was poor, England was struggling, and when Robin was two, he and two of his siblings were put into a home for orphans and other children who could not be taken care of by their parents. Those were hard times; his siblings were eventually adopted by relatives or other families, and he alone remained without a family. Learning the piano was the bright spark in his life at that point, the beginning of what was to be a long musical path. When he was eight, his mother was able to take him out of “the home,” and he went to live with her, his older brother Ted, and his grandfather Harry Price near Swansea, Wales. They lived in a tiny caravan in a field, or sometimes in a house, or sometimes had to be taken in by friends. As a teen, Robin recounted a brief period of living in a rhododendron thicket. His grandfather was a blacksmith, making tools for the war effort. Though on his first day of school he was so poor that he had to wear his mother’s shoes, Robin was quickly at the top of his class at Bishop Gore Grammar School in Swansea. As he grew older he was guided by his teachers into the field of chemistry. He later worked as a chemist in Wales and then in England for the atomic research establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire, where he recalled being spoiled with the other young scientists of the nation. While there, he was sent to university at Oxford Polytechnic. Ready for a change from the lab after nine years, he decided to move to the United States to become a science writer with The American Chemical Society, who made him editor of their international research journal, Chemical and Engineering News. This took him to Washington, DC; he also worked in their London branch for several years in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. During those years, Robin played stringed instruments in local folk clubs, especially in the Oxford area and in Washington, DC. He eventually took a break from his life as a journalist, and became a teaching musician of guitar, banjo, dulcimer, and autoharp, even lecturing at the Smithsonian on traditional American and British music. He met his wife, Dana Darby Johnson, through music in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC; they remained together for 21 years, including six years in Craig Cefn Parc, Swansea, Wales, finally settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Though Robin and Dana eventually divorced, they stayed close friends and co-parents to their daughter, Rhiannon, whom Robin loved with all his heart. Meanwhile, Robin’s career as a tai chi chuan instructor was born out of years of martial arts training in kickboxing, judo, hapkido, and jujitsu. He gained expertise in various forms of tai chi: spear, saber, and sword, helped to bring a martial arts master from Korea to the Washington-Virginia suburbs, helped to found the Tai Chi Union in London, and finally built the Han Dragon Studio at his home in Santa Fe, where he enjoyed teaching students daily over many years. Robin published two books on Tai Chi: Stalking Yang Lu-chan (2005) and A Barefoot Boxer’s Chronicle: Sourcing Tai Chi Classics and Aphorisms (2014). In spite of a painful degenerative spinal condition, likely caused by the malnutrition of his childhood, he was teaching tai chi classes until a few days before he died. A gathering to honor Robin’s memory will take place at the Han Dragon Studio, 11 Cerrado Loop, Eldorado, Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Sunday, September 9, 2018, from 1:00 to 3:30 pm. It will be a casual potluck to share stories, celebrate his life, and unite in spirit.