By: Josiah Deason, Artesia High School

Spanning across the depths of the Pecos Valley lies the century-old legacy of the Johnson Farms, where its lush acreage thrives lastingly as each generation beholds it to the next.

The spark of this legacy began in Newton County, Mississippi when Isaac Peebles “Ike” Johnson and his family embarked a journey across the United States in 1924 in hopes for a drier climate and crisper opportunities, where it led the Johnson Family and three other Mississippi families to the Heart of the Pecos.

Just 7 miles north of the Heart of the Pecos is where in 1925, Ike Johnson founded the basis of the Johnson Farms, where the soil remains just as bountiful as it was then, now nearing a century of thorough care and development. As the endless march of time never fails to progress, so did the development of the Johnson Farms, and most importantly, the addition to the Family’s contribution and involvement within their surrounding community, resulting in all 14 children of Ike and Nora’s to pursue their primary education at Artesia High School.

Though these 14 children went on to fulfill separate paths in life, Bill Johnson, the youngest boy of the Ike and Nora’s, returned to lead the development of the Johnson Farms, where his coordination of the estate contributed a vast collection of neighboring acreage after decades of contribution to the conservation of the Johnson Legacy. This legacy not only thrives within the Pecos, but by family members who have moved out towards other regions of the nation.

What remains forever constant within the Family is the not only the efforts they exert towards the success of the farm, but also the values that they hold towards their contribution and fellowship in church, and most of all, their Faith in God.

Josiah Deason is a Junior at Artesia High School.