Born in Fennimore, WI, in 1927, Bruce Johnson joined the faculty of Badger High School in Lake Geneva, WI, in 1958. Earlier, he served in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army. He earned a degree in Dairy Science from UW-Madison and a degree in English from Wisconsin State University-Platteville. At Badger High School, he became,e a stellar teacher of senior English and journalism for thirty years.

His 3000+ students remember how his passion for language, literature, and writing inspired their thinking and writing. Other alumni who never had Johnson as their teacher remember him as the man with a Nikon camera around his neck, recording their significant learning experiences. In lieu of a graduation speaker, he produced a 30-minute narrative accompanied by music and slides taken of all students in each graduating class from 1961 to 1986.