CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Especially this time of year, there are 5K races pretty much every weekend. But there is a race next weekend in Clarksville that has runners racing for a powerful reason.
The David "Bubba" Johnson 5K will be Saturday, Aug. 19, at Beechaven Winery in Clarksville, in memory of Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Johnson.
"Even when he pulled somebody over, they would say, 'thank you for giving me the ticket.' He never made anybody mad," said Jennifer Johnson, Bubba's wife of 29 years.
In 2014, Johnson's patrol car went off a ravine and collided with a tree. It killed him instantly.
"He turned around on the bypass and we are assuming he went after a speeder," Jennifer said.
From that moment on, his Montgomery County brothers in blue never left his side, as his casket went from his home church to the cemetery. But the same could be said for his wife Jennifer and daughter Shelby.
"They didn’t leave my side from that Sunday to the Wednesday that we buried him," said Jennifer.
The support was so sustaining, Bubba's family knew they had to pay it forward.
"What I wanted to do with the foundation was to help other families in the state of Tennessee that have lost their loved one in the line of duty," said Jennifer.
So they set up the David "Bubba" Johnson Foundation. That's how Jennifer met Amy Miller.
"He was selfless, he loved his family, he loved me beyond a shadow of a doubt. I lost my person," said Miller.
Miller's husband, Sgt. David Miller, was serving as a Clarksville Police officer when he got a bad cough. It was COVID-19.
"Lights and sirens to the hospital — he never came home. He died 22 days later," she said.
Amy found herself lost in grief.
"I had no electricity, no water, no food. Nothing. And it wasn’t because I couldn’t," explained Miller. "I couldn’t function."
Everything changed when Jennifer extended a helping hand when it came to financial and emotional support through the foundation.
"I’m still not well, and I’m still trying to make it, but she’s made it a lot easier," admitted Miller.
Jennifer says she wants to help all the other families that are dealing with her same pain, which is why, they've started a yearly fundraiser for the Bubba Johnson Foundation.
"We call it the Bubba J 5K," Jennifer said with a smile.
And while the loss of Bubba is still painful, the race has become a yearly reminder of how much her husband is still loved.
"I think it’s healing for me," said Johnson. "Mainly it just keeps my husband’s name out there. I don’t want him forgotten."
The David "Bubba" Johnson 5K is Aug. 19 at 8 a.m. at Beechaven Winery in Clarksville. If you'd like to register or donate to David "Bubba" Johnson, click here. The Johnson Foundation has also fully vested a scholarship to Austin Peay State University. Any first responder or a relative of a first responder is eligible to apply.
