- Carlington Wilmot/Freelance Photographer
Lynford Johnson owner of Johnson's Gas Station pumps gas at the popular outlet.
Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer
THE GAS station at 34 Beechwood Avenue in Kingston is the haunt of taxi men and bus drivers and as you drive in, you will notice that the installation is rudimentary. Gleaming gas tankers owned by Lynford Johnson are the most modern feature of the outfit which is starkly simple in its layout.
But, on this day, by the time we are ready to leave, the place is 'corked' with vehicles in search of oil and the blue-painted restaurant on the property which is also owned by the businessman is packed.
Lynford Johnson is owner not only of the busy Beechwood Avenue gas station but also of a guest house in Mavis Bank, a wholesale business, a bar and other ventures. One could not easily guess that this was the same man who, some 25 years ago, earned his income from walking from work site to work site and selling chicken, fried with his own hands.
Indeed, for many years, Johnson was to avoid the purchase of a vehicle and would use his own limbs and the bus for transport.
Determined as he was that he and his family must enjoy the same quality of life as lawyers and doctors, although he had never been to college, this made for him the choice of self- employment and relentless saving, a fairly easy one.
Lynford Johnson was born in Mavis Bank in rural north St. Andrew to Mavis Ray and Leonard Johnson. After the early death of his mother, he was raised by Aunt Coolie Bennett. Aunt Coolie was a "very strict woman", he recalls, who insisted that all assigned chores be done on time. On Sundays, Lynford would be expected to seek wood for cooking and cut grass for the animals, all before he went off to the river with his friends.
His aunt helped him to open his first bank account at the local post office at age 13.
"If I had 10 cents, I would save one cent out of it," Lynford Johnson recalls. When his savings account at the post office reached a certain amount, he opened a regular bank account.
Aunt Coolie would also take him on visits to Kingston which was a completely different world from Mavis Bank. Kingstonians seemed rich in comparison to those individuals who lived in his farming community. The young boy would ask his aunt about where they got the wealth that they seemed to possess and her answer was, "They worked and bought it."
Message
The message was immediately received. One had to work one's way to affluence.
Young Lynford would also notice the men who lived in Mavis Bank but who worked outside of the community. On Friday afternoons, after receiving their pay, they would spend liberally in the bar and engage in hours of what appeared to be happy times with their friends. He admired them. But, he did not want to join them. He wanted to own the bar.
There was also another set of young men in Mavis Bank who would go up into the hills to smoke. They would come back into the community looking "dead and with nothing to say". Smoking held no appeal for the growing boy. Neither was he ever tempted to "buy a nice car and nice clothes" in these early years. "I was more interested in saving," he says.
He told a good friend of his named Woodroot, that he would like a business where every second he could earn a dollar. "Woodroot laughed at me," Johnson recalls.
On leaving Mount Fletcher All-Age School, Lynford decided that he would never seek to be employed by anyone.
"The level of education that I had, I said to myself I have to live like the doctor and the lawyer." He lived in a farming community, and so he made the obvious choice of trying to make a living off the soil. He approached a manager at the pepper processing factory located in Mavis Bank and asked if he would be interested in buying pepper from him. The answer was a positive one and so he went home and grew pepper for sale. But, when he took the mature product to the factory, the manager refused it, stating that the pepper was the wrong type and that, secondly, he had had no idea that Lynford was serious.
Raise and sell chickens
"I got vexed and left," Lynford recalls.
Next, Lynford decided to raise and sell chickens. His father, Leonard Johnson, who was by now resident in the United States, sent him US$100. He used some of the money to buy his first set of chickens, apportioning the money for future purchases, in order to ensure that he would never run out of the birds. The project was a success from the start and he continued raising and selling chickens for two years until he decided to start frying them for workers' lunches.
Lynford fried his chicken and took it to workers at the coffee factory in Mavis Bank. The response was great, Lynford recalls. So successful did he become (he was not yet 20) that many people in the community became envious. Rumours that he had money because he was a 'B-man' (homosexual) began to spread.
He did not allow this to affect him.
In his 20s, he became friends with Yvonne, the woman who was to become his wife and business partner. She discouraged him from starting a juice factory but gave him a vote of confidence towards using his money to buy a truck for the haulage of goods. This venture failed, but the City of Kingston Credit Union (COK) helped him to rewrite the loan and continued to do so for several years until he found another successful venture.
Solvent again
Johnson, who is featured in the COK 2005 calendar, found himself solvent again, soon after deciding to bottle and distribute kerosene oil. After the subsidy on this product was removed, he went into diesel oil. Doing his own deliveries, the entrepreneur drove once again into the black of solvency.
In 1998, he leased the property at 34 Beechwood Avenue and secured assistance from the Ministry of Mining to open his gas station.
Today, Johnson also operates a bar and wholesale in Mavis Bank, in addition to a guest house.
Married since age 28 to Yvonne, Lynford is today the father of Sharon Johnson, business management student at Hartford University in Connecticut, Toyan Johnson who is employed in his business locally and Shannatoi Johnson who is a preparatory school student in Kingston.
Johnson's oldest child is daughter Octavia Johnson who works with the Jamaica Development Bank. Octavia, he notes, also manages his businesses.
The businessman has invested top dollar in his children's education, sending them to the best preparatory and high schools possible and supporting their careers and dreams as much as he can.
Son Toyan Johnson who was a student at Hillell Academy told Outlook: "When it comes to work, he (his father) is a very persistent and a very disciplined man. He opens exactly at 7 a.m. and you can rely on his being here." The son added that his father is a disciplinarian at home too.
But, Toyan thinks that his father is the soul of generosity.
For a good cause
"He looks out for people - financial wise," he discloses. Alicia Morgan, his co-worker qualifies: "Tt has to be for a good cause. He has to know how his money is being spent."
According to Alicia, her employer is a very firm leader and is in fact "more of a leader than a boss. Really, he does not drive us. He leads. You feel free around him. He can be firm too."
What's next for Lynford Johnson? The businessman wants to build a medical centre with special facilities for the handicapped. "I believe that working with the credit union, I can do it," he states.
Yet, all appearances to the contrary, Lynford Johnson is not a complete workaholic.
He loves music, especially 'oldies' and lives for cricket too.
Life is a game, he feels, which is to be played at his own pace, never mind the comments and expectations of others.
