by Andrea Bright

David T. Johnson loved concrete. Whenever we would go out as a family, he would stop to inspect the cracking sidewalks, the crumbling curbs, the roads showing premature wear and tear. It bothered him greatly to see the deterioration. He knew he had the solution to these durability problems and tried to preach the gospel of PROTECRETE to whomever would listen.

Preaching the gospel was not new to him. Dave left the advertising industry in the early 70s to pursue the ministry and became a preacher before even graduating Bible school. In the early 80s, it became necessary to supplement the church income with outside income, and he found his calling in PROTECRETE. It was important to him to sell a product that he could believe in and that could do some good for the world.

He loved that PROTECRETE was safe for the environment. He loved that it was a permanent application and could save money for homeowners and taxpayers. He loved that it worked because when he believed in something, he believed in it wholeheartedly. No one was more surprised than him when something he believed in came back to bite him. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about that with PROTECRETE.

Setting out in the 1980's with just a four-page brochure and a few pails of product, he began convincing people to try this new stuff. He was laughed out of many offices, but he kept going. Without adequate tests or references, he got people to try PROTECRETE Densifier, the first product offered by ACT. They believed what he was telling them and more than that, believed in him.

Like any successful entrepreneur, he spent many, many hours at the office, urging his little business to grow. And little by little, it did. His wife, Sandra, was by his side from the beginning, helping to manage the office, the finances, the mailing and whatever else she could help with, and he brought his children in one by one. 

David Johnson, Jr. helped out part-time from the start and started working full-time in 1991. David Jr. began doing more and more applications and learned the industry quickly under his father's tutelage. David Sr. often referred to his son as his "right hand." Coming from an extensive sales background, David Jr. also helped his father increase the company's sales.

I came on board next, in 1996, bringing with me many years of marketing experience and business skills. As the eldest, I was slated to become next president, but that wasn't supposed to happen for many years.

The youngest, Emily Johnson, joined the team in 1999. Although an artist by training, she found a place for her creativity and close attention to detail. A natural in market research and an excellent writer, Emily began assisting me with the company's marketing.

David Sr. was proud to have all of his children working at his side every day. We got to learn the business and all about the products that he loved. It came as a crushing blow in the middle of 1998 when we learned that his nagging "golf injury" - a sore shoulder and back - was not really that but was instead weakening bones caused by a rare and incurable cancer of the bone marrow, called Multiple Myeloma.

It took him several months after diagnosis to recover from a broken sternum, broken back and broken ribs. He then went into remission in late 1998 and was back in the office full-time, doing what he loved to do. It wasn't until fall of 1999 that he started going downhill again, in what would prove to his last months.

He fought valiantly until the end, and never gave up hope that he would beat the disease and make a full recovery. He had been fully intending to travel to the 2000 World of Concrete in Orlando less than a week before he passed away.

Dave was born on October 3, 1938 and died at the age of 61 on Friday, February 11, 2000 at 11:20 p.m., surrounded by his wife, children and closest friends. To those of us who loved him dearly, it seems more like yesterday. We are only comforted by the fact that we were lucky enough to know and be loved by him and that he is now in Heaven, feeling no pain and having a wonderful time. We have joked that there's probably even a golf course in my father's Heaven.

Dave's memorial service was amazing, as hundreds of people came from all over to pay tribute to how he had touched their lives. We heard for months afterward from people who said they were inspired to live their lives more like him and wanted to be remembered even half as well when their time came.

As his family, we also want to pay tribute to this wonderful man. One of the ways we will do this is to continue to grow his business, working in his vision of what it can be. He laid the groundwork, and now we have taken up the torch and will carry it on. It's what he would have wanted and since we love him, it's what we want too.

We hope you are blessed and will continue to be blessed by our family's PROTECRETE line of products.

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David T. Johnson
Founder

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