Deacon Johnnie Hamilton Jr.

Johnnie Cleotha. Hamilton, Jr, the son of the late Johnnie Cleotha Hamilton. Sr and the late Carrie Inez Fain Hamilton was born on September 6, 1946. He was fervently known as “Cle” to his family and friends in Florida. But, to everyone else, he was simply “John”.

As a child, John was very quiet, but he was a very good student. He always felt like he needed to be  the protector over his mother and sisters because his father died when John was 6 years old. He liked playing basketball and spending time with his dear friends, Merrill Parnell and the late Clayton Wilson.

John attended Richardson High School in Lake City, Florida where he played in the marching band. He loved playing the clarinet and went on to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida and became a member of the famous “Marching 100” Marching Band. He majored in Economics and later joined the U.S. Air Force. While in the Air Force he traveled the world and was stationed in Texas, Colorado, Michigan, and finished his military career in England. In England is where he met his bride, Dora Mae Milligan who was also in the Air Force, they had been married 48 years at the time of his death.

Upon leaving the Air Force, John and Dora moved to Denver, Colorado and started a family. John and Dora were blessed with their only daughter, Tanisha Jamarria Hamilton. In Denver, he began his career in automotive finance and worked for General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC). While as an employee of GMAC, he was transferred to Cheyenne, Wyoming where he lived for thirteen years. In Cheyenne, he joined the Second Baptist Church family. He became heavily involved in the church working as a Sunday School Teacher, Trustee, and member of the Male Chorus. His church family in Cheyenne became a “second family” to John, Dora, and Tanisha. Currently, his name is engraved on the cornerstone of their church building in which he was instrumental in helping to build.

While in Cheyenne, he also took up a love for the sport of racquetball. Later in his life, he played golf and shooting pool with his friends at the Aurora Center for Active Adults. He loved jazz and old gospel music and played his records and CDs all of the time in his home, much to the dismay of Dora and Tanisha.

In 1989, John and his family joined the Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church in Denver, CO. Again, he became active in Sunday School, Trustee Board, Male Chorus, and was ordained as a Deacon in 1999. John “loved “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with every fiber of his being and he loved his church family. He indeed was a man after God’s own heart. He also loved his whole family immensely.

John is preceded in death by his brother Steven Fain, and his sister Helen Wright.

Those left to cherish his memory and to live out his legacy are his wife Dora M. Hamilton, daughter Dr. Tanisha J. Hamilton, five sisters, Doris Hudson Grover (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), Bernice Davis (Jacksonville, Florida), Everlena Hamilton, Laverne Edwards, and Gail Rentz (all of Lake City, Florida). He has 5 sisters in laws, 5 brother in laws, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and two Godsons Gregory Lyons (Atlanta, Georgia) and Devin Milligan (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

John was known for reciting his own characteristic prayer in public and in private. Prior to his death, he asked Tanisha to type out the words of the prayer for him because he was starting to forget them and he didn’t want that to happen. The last line of the prayer states ” when it comes time for us to go into our room, to study war no more, we asked that you receive us with the words,” WELL DONE, THY GOOD and FAITHFUL servant, you have been faithful over a few things, but I will make you ruler over many. We know that our precious John heard these words at 9:10 pm on May 4, 2021. He opened his eyes, looked up to Heaven; looked back at his girls, Dora and Tanisha, and then closed his eyes and went home to be with his Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. WELL DONE, THY GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT JOHN!!

In Lieu of flowers please make donations to the Parkinson's Association of the Rockies in memory of Johnnie C. Hamilton Jr. www.parkinsonrockies.org