Last summer, Mackay High history teacher Jess Johnson listened to an audiobook about the USS Indianapolis on a trip home from Mount Rushmore.
The story sparked Johnson’s interest in Lt. Cmdr. Earl Henry Sr., the ship’s dentist and an avid bird painter and taxidermist. Henry died after a Japanese submarine torpedoed the ship in July 1945. The ship sank in about 12 minutes, killing hundreds of crewmen.
Johnson learned that Henry’s son, Earl Henry Jr., sold prints of his father’s work. One painting, “American Eagle in the Pacific,” was completed on the ship before it sank. It depicts an eagle holding a tattered Japanese flag.
Johnson ordered a copy.
“And maybe 20 minutes after I purchased it, he calls me,”Johnson said.
The phone call kicked off a lifelong friendship between Johnson and Henry Jr. — and became the foundation for a unit in Johnson’s military history class at Mackay High. It’s just one of dozens of out-of-the-box approaches Johnson uses to bring history to life for his students.
“It’s our lives — it’s what happens,” he said. “I try to make the connection between the old and the new.”
A teacher in the making
Johnson grew up on a farm outside of Preston.
He wasn’t “that good of a student” but sports had an impact. By eighth grade, his coaches influenced him to become a teacher.
After high school, he started a family and worked nights as a cheesemaker. He fit classes into a busy schedule. With six kids, it took Johnson seven years to finish his teaching degree.
He graduated from Utah State University in 1990 and took his first teaching job in Yuma, Arizona, the next fall. He taught middle school classes and coached at the high school.
Coaching came easy — teaching did not.
“I was drowning, and my principal said, ‘You’re not a very good teacher and you’re not going to make it,'” Johnson recalls.
He eventually partnered with a veteran teacher, who encouraged him to be himself, stay calm, and push through ups and downs.
That changed everything, Johnson said. He soon fell in love with the job — and with history.
‘I said heck yeah’
Johnson eventually made his way back to Idaho.
After nearly two decades teaching at American Falls High, he and some other coaches earned their master’s degrees. He took a job as principal of Mackay High Jr./Sr. School, where his children graduated.
Johnson moved around after becoming an empty nester. Three years ago, his sons moved back to Mackay and asked him to move closer.
“I said heck yeah,” Johnson said.
He returned to Mackay to teach history, government, and coach junior high school football — and continue his emphasis on projects.
‘I don’t go into the book’
“My style is probably different than a traditional history teacher,” Johnson said. “I don’t go into the book. I teach the standards and whatever, but my whole career has been hands-on projects.”
Johnson has come up with dozens of projects over the years that tie into his history lessons. Students dress up as Roman soldiers with homemade armor, make hardtack, make their own gas masks to test with a fog machine, dress up as 1920s flappers and set up a faux speakeasy.
At 65, the projects keep Johnson excited about teaching.
“It really makes it meaningful,” he said.
For him, history is key to helping students understand the world around them.
Henry Jr., now in his 80s, called in and shared stories about his father during Johnson’s unit on the USS Indianapolis. Henry Jr. was so impressed with the students that he sent them all prints of his father’s most famous painting.
“I just thought that would be a neat way to reciprocate their interest,” Henry Jr. told East Idaho News this spring.
Days later, Henry Jr. called Johnson, worried students wouldn’t have picture frames for them. He sent money to make sure each student could properly hang the piece.
“They were so happy that someone they never met would take the time to do something for them,” Johnson said. “It’s something that they can have and keep as long as they want, pass down to their children, tell the story so history keeps cycling.”
‘I care about the kids first’
This summer Johnson traveled to Nashville, where Henry Jr. and his wife Marilynn live. Johnson considers them lifelong friends.
Johnson is now trying to come up with an exciting project for this school year. He’s thinking about a “night at the museum” event where students dress up as historical characters, then wake up to tell their stories.
“I care about the kids first, and I try to build those relationships, and you don’t reach everyone,” Johnson said. “But I try to make an effort to reach everyone that walks through my doors.”
Jess Johnson
Years teaching: 35
Subjects taught: History, government, geography, PE
Teacher Feature highlights the diversity, expertise and ingenuity of educators across the state. Submit your suggestions for a teacher to feature to Emma Epperly at emma@idahoednews.org.
