Lt. Colonel Scott Lee Johnson, 68, passed away on October 21, 2026, surrounded by his loving family.

Scott was born May 14, 1958, to Virgil and Patricia Johnson of Owatanna, Minnesota. The Johnson family moved to Shelbyville in 1970, where they planted their roots. In the family’s first week in Shelbyville, Scott made many new neighborhood friends, including the boy who would become his lifelong best friend and the girl who would become the love of his life. Scott graduated from Shelbyville Central High School in 1976, where he was active in student clubs, lettered in baseball and football, and was voted best personality by the senior class. Most importantly, he fell in love with Alice Tune Johnson.

Scott graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration—Finance and married Alice soon after. He later earned his Master of Science in Justice and Public Safety from Auburn University.

Scott was commissioned in the Air Force and served his country for 23 years, retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 2003. For the majority of his career, Scott served as a criminal investigator in the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). His military career took Scott, Alice, and their children, Mac and Leigh, and family dogs, all over the country including Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, and multiple assignments in Washington, D.C. His career highlights included serving as OSI commander at Robins Air Force Base, overseeing all OSI operations in Alaska, and overseeing the fraud investigations division for OSI. On September 11, 2001, Scott was a first responder on the scene at the Pentagon. Following the terrorist attacks, he served as chief of investigations on the Department of Defense’s counterterrorism Criminal Investigation Task Force. During this time, he advocated at the highest levels for humane and legal investigations and the release of innocent detainees, while working tirelessly to bring the terrorists to justice.

Following his Air Force career, Scott was resolute in his desire to return to Bedford County to serve his hometown community. For 17 years, he led the Bedford County Emergency Management Agency as director. Highlights of his EMA tenure included instituting a coordinated storm shelter program that became a model for the state. He worked with local schools, industries, and government agencies on disaster preparedness programs. He also coordinated emergency response plans for large public events, such as the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and the Webb School Arts and Craft Show. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency recognized his contributions with the Bill Hyder Award, the organization’s highest honor for excellence in leadership. He delayed his retirement to support and coordinate local response efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alongside the demands of his role as EMA director, Scott lent his time and talents to multiple community organizations. He was a long-time member of the Celebration board of directors, and he served on or chaired many other community boards, including the Community Clinic of Shelbyville and Bedford County, the Shelbyville-Bedford Chamber of Commerce, the Bedford County 911 Emergency Communications District, and Bedford Builds Habitat for Humanity. He also had a talent for recruiting and encouraging other servant leaders to assume leadership roles in the community.

Scott’s longest running service to the community was the quiet kind. He put his decades of experience as a law enforcement officer in the Air Force to good use to serve his hometown. He humbly gave more than 20 years of service as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Bedford County Sheriff's department. He consistently worked ten-hour volunteer shifts, usually on a weekly basis (or more), accumulating thousands of hours of service.

Following his retirement from EMA in 2021, Scott remained active in the community, continuing to serve on multiple boards and volunteering with the sheriff’s department. Scott especially enjoyed hosting the radio show and podcast “Gov Talk” for Hopkins Farms Broadcasting/WLIJ Radio, during which he interviewed community leaders to improve public understanding of local government. Scott served as a county commissioner, a position that had once been held by his father, with his term ending this past August.

The highlight of Scott’s retirement was spending more time with his family, including RV travel with Alice to Tennessee State Parks and to the Washington DC suburbs, where his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren reside, near the town where Scott and Alice raised their own family. He enjoyed home improvement projects—at his own house, his mother’s home, and his children's homes—during which he provided expert direction to his helpers (his son and son-in-law). He enjoyed regular Saturday lunches at his mother’s home and visits from his daughter, son-in-law, and granddogs. “Pop,” as he was named by his beloved grandchildren, spent his last year ensuring his wife, children, grandchildren, and mother were cared for and loved.

Scott was preceded in death by his father, Virgil Johnson. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Alice Tune Johnson; his children, Mac (Sara) Johnson, and Leigh (Grant) Cooksey; his grandchildren Sadie and Davy Johnson; his mother, Patricia Johnson; and his siblings Curt (Julie) Johnson, Brett (Cheri) Johnson, and sister Liz (Glenn) Osthoff; his aunts, nieces, and nephews; and his loyal pets, hound dogs Beatrice and Benny and cat Mitchell.

A graveside service will be held at Rosebank Cemetery in Flat Creek on Wednesday, October 28, at 1:00 pm. Family and friends are also invited to gather at the Blue Ribbon Circle at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration from 3:30 to 6:30 pm for a reception to celebrate Scott’s life.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to the Lt. Colonel Scott L. Johnson Memorial Scholarship, which will support students graduating from Bedford County Schools who are entering essential service professions in public safety, education, or healthcare and intend to serve in Bedford County. The scholarship fund is managed by First Community Bank of Tennessee (207 Elm St, Shelbyville, TN 37160). Gifts can also be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network at secure.pancan.org/goto/LtColScottJohnson or Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (ATTN: WHMW Donation Processing Center, PO Box 5041, Boone, IA 50950-0041.)

Doak-Howell Funeral Home is serving the family.