Sheldon Johnson (Johnsonverse)

Sheldon Robert Johnson, Sr. (May 11, 1923-September 22, 2019) was the Senator of California from November 4, 1996 until his passing. Before becoming Senator, Johnson was CEO of Johnson Industries from 1967 to 1981, when he was ousted by Phil Stacker, who had just bought the company, and ran for President in 1988 and 1992 but lost the Democratic nomination both times by one vote.

Personal life
Johnson died on September 22, 2019 of congestive heart failure. He was 96. Shortly after his death, all Johnson-owned networks (except Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Freeform, and The NASCAR Network) ceased all programming as Tom Stephenson delivered the news to a stunned nation; WBC, all ESPN networks, The Nashville Network, Comedy Central, WBC News Network, Game Show Network, and A&E simulcast all coverage of Johnson's funeral services, in tandem with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, and BBC America.

Despite his past entanglements with the company, US President Donald Trump declared that September 25 would be a national day of mourning, and that all flags would be at half-staff until the end of the month. Johnson received a state funeral from the State of California, which involved a funeral train from San Jose to Sacramento on the Northwest Corridor, then back to San Jose via Altamont Pass after lying in state in the state capitol building; Continental Rail #1472, the locomotive that starred in Tales from the Rails and also pulled the funeral trains for Dwight Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush (in the latter case, Union Pacific #4141 was to lead the train, but one of Bush's dying wishes was for the locomotive from one of his favorite shows to power the train), powered the train without any diesel helpers (thanks to advancements in steam locomotive technology developed by Continental Rail); Dick Van Dyke was expected to be at the throttle between Stockton and Livermore, but he couldn't make it out, and traffic over Altamont Pass was heavy and couldn't be cleared in time, so the train was forwarded to Fresno, and Tim Johnson's best friend Andrew "Andy" Helmsburgh, himself an engineer-in-training for Continental Rail, was drafted to take the throttle after his own grandfather's funeral in Fresno, taking the train all the way home via Pacheco Pass; passengers who were on the train, aside from Tim, included Chloe Johnson, Belle Armstrong, Sheldon Johnson Jr., Tammy Jo Johnson, Jenny Smith, Ricky and Isabella Johnson, Tom Stephenson, the surviving cast members of Tales from the Rails, Elk Cabin, and The Reapers, Phil Stacker and his family, and Suki Honda (Andy's girlfriend).