I worked with Curt, I visited with Curt and was lucky to call him friend for about 13 years. Most of my venomous collection was gifted to me by Curt and I was able to return the favor once or twice with some baby squamigers and others I had the good fortune to produce.

For many years Curt and I talked daily as we shared both a reptile hobby and a tropical fruit tree hobby so we had lots to discuss. After work at 2am Curt would invite me over to look at some plant or something with a flashlight, careful not to shine it at the neighbors of course. We ordered exotic seeds from far off lands together and competed with each other at who would grow them better. (Curt almost always won).

When Curt got his his first tree cobra, I was there, when I got my first tree cobra, Curt was there. I remember getting a shipment from a dealer and inside was a bag marked "gift for Curt" ( a brown snake). This was funny as my order was only about 250 bucks and Curt's freebie was about 300 bucks at the time, and I paid shipping!

Nobody could keep snakes better, Curt was meticulous in his care, careful in his handling, and observant of anything that might be awry with any specimen. Two king cobras he gave me were because they were imperfect, one had to look hard to see the problem but to Curt it was glaring, so they were gifted to me (my first venomous snakes, a Curt Johnson bred pair of Kings!)

Curt's passing has affected me deeply, I will miss calling him to prattle on about whatever, and have had to fight the compulsion to call and tell him some stupid thing I thought of, or to call to stop by to look at the damage the last cold front did to his inga; preferably with a flashlight in the middle of night.

Alan Shobert

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