In 1952, he was the first recipient of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity's American Man of Music Award.
[2] From 1958 to 1964, Johnson was a full professor and director of orchestral activities at Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.
He founded the Peninsula Music Festival in Fish Creek, Wisconsin in 1952 and led its orchestra every summer until his death in 1975.
[citation needed] He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.
Upon his death in 1975, Johnson was buried in God's Acre, the Moravian cemetery in the historic Old Salem area of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.