Whitey: From Farm Kid to Flying Tiger to Attorney

More than a "small town boy does good" story, this is the story of a small town boy who did great.

Wayne Johnson's life's story, like his memoir "Whitey" consists of three parts. As the eleventh child of emigrant parents, Wayne has a proud Norwegian heritage, and spent time growing up on a farm in rural Minnesota during the Great Depression.Wayne then went into military service, training as a fighter pilot, and was shipped to China in WWII to serve with the famed Flying Tigers. Returning home at the end of the war, Wayne attended college and law school in order to become an attorney, and established a law practice in the small Minnesota towns of Beaver Bay and Silver Bay, both on the north shore of Lake Superior. In addition to his private law practice, Wayne served as city attorney for both Beaver Bay and Silver Bay for more than fifty years, setting a record as the longest serving city attorney in the United States.Continuing to be active in aviation, Wayne was named “Mr. Aviation of Minnesota” in 1968. In 2001, Wayne was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame and in 2005 the Silver Bay Municipal Airport was renamed the Wayne Johnson Airport.