Funeral services for Carl Johnston, 80, of Purcell wil be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 11, 2025 at Lexington First Baptist Church. Interment wll be at Hillside Cemetery in Purcell under the direction of the Wilson-Little Funeral Home of Purcell.
Mr. Johnston passed away Monday, September 8, 2025 peacefully surrounded by family.
Carl Clifton Johnston, Jr. was born January 5,1945 in Ada, Oklahoma, to Carl and Perle Inez (O’Flannigan) Johnston.
Carl graduated from Carl Albert High School. On July 10, 1971, he married the love of his life, Linda Gay Woodruff. He loved to tell everyone the story about how the couple met and as he tells it “It was love at first sight.” The couple raised three children together and spent 54 years happily married.
He began working for General Motors in 1979 until the GM plant in Oklahoma City closed in 2006. Carl was a true patriot and proudly served his country in the U.S. Air Force for many years before retiring from the military.
Carl was a family man. His whole life was devoted to his family. He coached Sheree and never missed a game she played, and enjoyed taking Brad on fishing trips. He was amazing at planning great vacations for the family. He always made family lake trips the best, cooking breakfast for everyone and pulling the kids around on tubes. As the kids grew up and had families of their own, the grandkids were his life. He was truly the best “Papa!” He adored the grandkids and never missed an opportunity to spend time with them, and he loved watching Sawyer play baseball. He never missed a game.
Carl was a collector of antique cars and looked forward to going to auctions with his lifelong friend, Donnie. He was also very close with his nephew, Mark, and got a kick out of spending time with him talking all things about cars. Carl was an avid OU Sooners fan, and was a huge supporter of President Donald Trump. He even switched political parties to support Trump.
Carl loved deeply and had an incredible knack of making everyone feel like the most special person in the world. He was a fantastic husband, dad, papa, uncle and friend. Carl was deeply loved and will be truly missed.
He was preceded in death by parents, Carl and Perle Johnston; his son, Terry Graumann; and his sister, Susie Dockery.
Carl is survived by his wife, Linda Johnston of the home; his son, Brad Johnston and wife, Tonya Shane, of Purcell; his daughter, Sheree Vinson and husband, Brock, of Blanchard; his two sisters, Margaret Cooper of Seminole and Carolyn Hall and husband, Richard, of Choctaw; his five grandchildren, Levy Graumann, Ethan Graumann, Brylee Vinson, Sawyer Vinson and Elizabeth Johnston; his three great-grandchildren, Xander Graumann, Ezekiel Grauman and one on the way; and a host of family and friends.
Online condolences may be made at www.wilsonlittle.com.