Award honors slain UA musician's good deeds

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo courtesy of Stardust Johnson Roy Johnson and his wife Stardust, pose during the dedication ceremony in October 1994 to the Harris organ that Roy obtained donations to build. Dusty set up the Roy A. and Stardust K Memorial Fund, which awards $1,000 to a teacher in the College of Fine Arts for excellence in mentoring to remember Roy, who was murdered Feb. 28, 1995.

Stardust Johnson, Roy's wife of 35 years, said the Roy A. and Stardust K. Johnson Excellency in Faculty Mentoring Award will be granted for the first time in May.

The $1,000 award will be given annually to a teacher in the College of Fine Arts who puts forth outstanding effort toward mentoring younger faculty, assisting new teachers and collaborating with others in the department.

"I wanted to give an award to remember Roy through," Stardust Johnson said.

Although she created the award, Johnson credits Gary Cook, Director of the School of Music and Dance, with the idea.

"The award celebrates extraordinary efforts and mentoring. It is very fitting," Cook said. "Pages of testimony poured into the family about his caring, mentoring and teaching after his death."

Roy Johnson, Director of Graduate Studies in Music from 1984 to 1992, an accomplished organist and UA music professor for 29 years, disappeared the night of February 28, 1995, after performing at a UA music faculty concert in Green Valley.

His beaten, lifeless body was found four days later in a muddy wash. Johnson was 58.

In 1996, Beau John Greene was convicted of murdering Johnson and sentenced to death. Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court denied Greene's appeal to have the sentence reduced to life imprisonment.

Immediately following the death of her husband, Johnson created a Memorial Fund to honor his commitment to teaching and good citizenship.

The endowment is funded by private donations, along with some of Roy Johnson's insurance and retirement money. Established in fall 1995, it earns enough money in interest to replace the amount removed each year.

The fund has already been financing the Roy Johnson Memorial Organ Scholarship, a $1,000 award given annually to an outstanding UA music student.

"Roy was absolutely everything to me," said Johnson, wearing a pin he gave her the Christmas before his death. "Just an extraordinary and beautiful human being."

Genevieve D. Cruise can be reached via e-mail at Genevieve.D.Cruise@wildcat.arizona.edu.