Vigil Held for Man Slain on the Job

The widow of a man while working at a South Ward pizzeria said she bears no ill will toward whoever is responsible for the death of the 55-year-old father of six.

“I hold no grudge against nobody...I have my family and friends and loved ones,” said Nina Patton, the wife of Calvin Johnson. Patton then broke down as she expressed her gratitude to the many people who have reached out to her family in the last few days.

“You know Calvin loved you all,” she said, fighting back tears.

Other speakers at a memorial for Johnson held last night were also ready to forgive whoever murdered  a man described repeatedly as “good” and “strong,” but also urged his killer or killers to come forward.

“We have all come together to pray for the community, to pray for the family, pray for the businesses,” said Minister Thomas Ellis as he led a prayer circle of more than 30 people who had assembled at the Golden Pizzeria for an outdoor vigil.

“We also pray for whoever did this to turn themselves in,” said Ellis, of the Love from the Heart Ministries and president of the Enough is Enough Coalition.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said yesterday that robbery had been ruled out as a motive in Johnson’s murder, which happened shortly after 11 pm Saturday while he worked inside the small pizzeria, a neighborhood fixture for decades. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of Johnson’s killer.

Also represented yesterday was the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition and the People’s Organization for Progress. Many speakers yesterday said Johnson was just the latest victim of the gun violence that has consumed parts of the city -- especially the neighborhood around the restaurant, centered at the corner of South 11th Street and South Orange Avenue.

One of Johnson’s relatives said he was the third member of her family to fall victim to gun crime along a three block stretch of South Orange Avenue that includes the restaurant. The owners of other businesses in the area said violence was all too commonplace.

“Newark is on fire. When is it going to stop?” said Earl Best, a city activist better known by his self-appointed title of Street Doctor.

Best and others remembered Johnson as someone who would help if they could, such as by providing a homeless person a hot Italian-food meal.

“They were community people. They helped out,” Best said.

“The man I knew was a loving man, he was a kind man, he did what he could to help people,” said Minister Keith Odem of the Macedonian Church of Christ on Broadway and cousin of Johnson’s wife.

Others recalled Johnson as a quiet but tough man who worked multiple jobs to support his large family and who never missed a day of work -- even after he had been the victim of an earlier violent crime.

Bessie Daughtry, grandmother of Johnson’s wife, said that Johnson was jumped after he threw some troublemakers out of the pizzeria last summer. “He came right back into work,” Daughtry said.

Johnson had worked for Golden Pizzeria and other area restaurants since at least 1980, said Pat Lemmo, the current owner. Lemmo, who first met Johnson when Lemmo was six and his family had just purchased the pizzeria in the late 1980s, described him as “a mentor” who taught him the business.

“He was very firm, very strong to his beliefs. He was a hard worker who never asked for anything, never missed work. There’s nothing that kept him out of work,” Lemmo said.

“It’s just a shame this neighborhood got him. He was a very rare person.”

The community is invited to attend Johnson’s funeral service, which is scheduled for Saturday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 119 Camden St., at a time to be determined. For more details, call Minister Keith Odem at 1-877-548-8320.