City employee to be named honorary mayor

Staunton City Council will pass a resolution at its meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. naming Thomas Johnson Jr. honorary mayor pro tempore and making him the official representative of the City of Staunton during the European concert tour of The French-American Gospel Music Workshop Exchange this Dec. 4-12.

Tommy Johnson has been an employee of the Staunton Police Department for 40 years. He was affectionately known as “The Mayor” in his former Johnson Street Community neighborhood near Staunton’s Booker T. Washington Community Center.

Johnson is an Elder at the Seventh Day Adventist Church N.E. in Waynesboro and is often invited to participate in local services and meetings. His wife, Dolly Troutman, will be performing with the French-American Gospel Choir in Europe.

Mayor Johnson will carry greetings from the City of Staunton as he travels with 55 singers from Staunton, Waynesboro, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke and Richmond to join 200 French gospel singers for performances celebrating the seventh anniversary of the Exchange: in Besançon, France at the 2,000-seat Micropolis Theater; in Neuchâtel, Switzerland at the Temple du Bas; and for a grand finale, gala, Christmas concert in Paris at the elegant Espace Pierre Cardin.

Proceeds from the Paris concert will be donated to two non-profit foundations serving the children of Haiti – Lave Ton Regard www.lavetonregard.com and Hollywood Unites For Haiti www.HUFH.org.