‘Awesome guy’: Family, Myrtle Beach leaders remember Horry County’s 1st Black firefighter
April Simpson wanted to take her father out on Father’s Day. It would be their last meal together before he checked into the hospital.
She drove to his house in Myrtle Beach’s historically Black neighborhood known as “the hill” to pick him up. April watched her father, Johnny Simpson, build the house more than 30 years ago. He was working as a firefighter in Myrtle Beach then, the first Black man hired to the job in 1972.
Johnny, now a double amputee, put on his loose fitting prosthetic legs and waited in the car while April found a wheelchair that would fit in her car.
They drove to The Original Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood restaurant. Along the way, Johnny, 77, told his daughter how much he missed his wife Gail, who had died in 2020. They spent 47 years together and he was never the same after her death.
On the drive, April reminded him about his doctors appointment to fit his prosthetics coming up. Even as he lost both of his legs to diabetes and had to sit through dialysis three times a week, Johnny still enjoyed eating out with his daughter almost every week.
The wait at Benjamin’s was long for the holiday but there was a table ready for the Simpsons. April wheeled her father to the table where his granddaughter, Autumn, was ready to take their order. Seafood was Johnny’s favorite.
Years before, when he was healthier, he taught April how to catch fish and crabs on the piers, lakes and creeks throughout Horry County. He cooked what he caught and especially enjoyed the fish he caught off the pier. His love for cooking was known to his friends and family, who never left the house hungry.
Johnny was a provider, for his family and community. He was known as the “Black Santa Claus” in the neighborhood and handed out candy from his fire truck dressed as Santa.
One day when April was a child her father came home with hundreds of cheeseburgers from McDonald’s, lunch for the neighborhood kids.
Now, sitting in his wheelchair at Benjamin’s, Johnny ate clams, fried oysters and crab legs before finishing off the meal with his usual cone of vanilla ice cream. April could tell her father was getting tired and asked for the check. The bill had been paid, a restaurant manager told her.
Johnny got home that night to Boots, his black cat with white paws, waiting for him and watched television until he fell asleep. Out back, a tool-shed that Johnny had built held mementos of a healthier time in Johnny’s life.
The “Black Santa,” as he was known around the holiday’s, used the shed to wrap gifts for his children. April remembered the pink child-sized bowling ball he gave her so they could bowl together, along with the small golf clubs and fishing poles that she was gifted. Gifts that ensured April would have something to use when the pair spent time together.
After the dinner Johnny’s health continued to decline. He spent the next week in a hospital until he died on July 3.
Friends, colleagues and city officials reacted to the loss on social media after the fire department announced Simpson’s death.
“Thank you Mr Johnny being awesome guy and for the many of years of service to our city RIP MY FRIEND,” Mike Chestnut, a city councilman since 2000, posted.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune also shared condolences on Facebook.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny Simpson once, and I could tell what an incredible person he was. May peace and comfort be with his family,” she posted.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 6:58 AM.
