TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
Robert Johnson 1935-2021 Educator, U.S. Civil Servant, U.S. Army
ciation, the Tuskegee Institute Alumni Association, and the Texas College National Alumni Association. He was a past member of the Trustee Board of Directors at Texas College and a Texas College Dallas Metro Alumni Chapter member. In 2004, Texas College pre- sented Hunter a Special Alumni Award for his contributions to the ideals for which Texas College promotes and in- ducted him into the Texas College Hall of Fame Wall of Achievers. In 2009, the Texas Dental Association awarded life membership one of a few African- Americans to receive this high honor. In 2019, Irby was pinned at the 50th year class reunion from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Hous- ton School of Dentistry for outstanding scholastic and career achievement. Hunter was a member of many churches throughout his life, including Kirkwood CME, Hamilton Park United Method- ist Church, and the Christian Chapel Temple of Faith CME. Brother Irby B. Hunter, Sr. is preceded in death by his parents, brother, Dr. Oli- ver Hunter, Jr. (Beta Beta 1953); sisters, Ruth (Napoleon) Brydsong; sister, Faye (Billy) Stull; and sister Rosalind (Rob- ert) McClelland. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Staphalene; daughter, Constance Hunter Wilson, son, Dr. Irby (Natalie) Hunter, Jr. (Dallas (TX) Alumni 1992); sister, Nancy Curtis; grandchildren Cecily, Clarke, Camille, and Chad Wilson; Peyton, Irby III, and Thomas Hunter; many nieces and nephews as well as the team at the East Illinois Clinic.
honors in 1957 from Lindale’s Bragg Morris High School. He attended Texas College in Tyler, TX, where he earned a B.S. degree with honors in chemistry in 1961. He later earned an M.S. degree in chemistry with honors from Tuskegee Institute (now University) in 1963. after working as an educator in Galveston, TX. In 1967, Hunter began his professional career as a dentist by starting his prac- tice in Dallas, TX. Irby dedicated his life to the dental health of his patients until a few weeks before his transition after more than 52 years in his profes- sion. Among his professional affiliations, Hunter was a member of the Dallas County Dental Society, the Texas Den- tal Association, the American Dental Association, and the National Dental Association. He served as the president and chairman of the Board of the Gulf State Dental Association for three terms and was the president and chairman of the Board of the M. C. Cooper Dental Society. A Life Member and a member of the Dallas (TX) Alumni Chapter, Hunter also a member of the Cotillion Idlewild Club, having served as past president, ball chair, and was the current chaplain at the time of his passing. The Club bestowed to Hunter the highly es- teemed Hiram Harding Award. A 1973 inductee of the Alpha Epsilon Boule Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc., he was past Sire Archon, where he focused on Community Service and the Scholar- ship and Mentoring Program. Hunter was a loyal donor to the YMCA Mooreland Branch and regular Career Day volunteer at several Dallas Inde- pendent School District schools. He was founding Board of Directors of the Sunbelt National Bank, the Dallas com- munity’s first African-American owned bank. In 1999, he joined other Dallas leaders as a Quest for Success award re- cipient based on leadership, community engagement and business achievement. Hunter was a member of the University of Texas Dental Branch Alumni Asso-
Robert Johnson (Delta Lambda 1959) entered the Chapter Invisible on February 18, 2021. On May 13, 1935, he was born to the late
Jack and Rosa (nee McKnight) Johnson on St. Helena Island, SC, where John- son school and life around numerous relatives. After graduating in 1954 from St. Helena High School, the U.S. Army drafted Johnson, where he completed basic training in Augusta, GA and Fort Sam Houston, Houston, TX. Upon com- pleting training for the Medical Corps, the Army sent him to Paris and Southern France for eighteen months. After his honorable discharge, Johnson enrolled at Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, VA in August 1956. In college, Johnson played football, joined the Fraternity via the Delta Lambda Chapter in 1959, and met his college sweetheart, who would become his wife, the former Ann Taylor Smith. In 1961, he earned a B.S. degree in industrial education. Johnson professionally worked for the U.S. Government in various positions and retired in 1991 as a Quality Control Specialist for the Defense Personnel Sup- port Center. The Johnson family primar- ily resided in New Jersey, where Johnson became a charter member of the Will- ingboro (NJ)-Ft. Dix-McGuire Alumni Chapter. He also was the treasurer for the Willingboro Branch of the NAACP for many years. He was a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Burlington, NJ. Johnson was an assistant Sunday School teacher in the Adult #1 Class for over 20 years, a charter member of the Quest Christian Outreach Program, and a senior Usher Board member, and trustee. He was a substitute teacher in the middle and high schools in the Burling- ton Township School district and also a
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