ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
LABAN JOHNSON not only has starred on television nationwide, but at home he's brightened lives as a teacher, theater participant and special events leader. Tuesday, Roanoke found an appropriate way to honor him.
For 15 years, Laban Johnson has been ``Cookin' Cheap'' on public television. On Tuesday, he got roasted.
More than 100 co-workers, friends, former teachers and students turned out at the Jefferson Center's Fitzpatrick Hall to honor Johnson and laugh along with him at some of the highs and lows of a life that has touched thousands of Roanoke Valley residents.
A longtime teacher, actor, director and star of the hilariously cornball ``Cookin' Cheap'' TV chef satire, Johnson retired at age 54 from his job as Roanoke special events coordinator in April after suffering a massive heart attack and other serious health problems in recent months.
On Tuesday, the city named the amphitheater in Elmwood Park the E. Laban Johnson Jr. Amphitheater. Co-workers and friends also chipped in to buy Johnson a personal computer system.
If his retirement party was any yardstick, Johnson will be sorely missed - but he'll still spread laughter's good will for some time to come.
Decked out in a king's robe and crown and holding a mock scepter, he was the butt of dozens of good-natured jokes throughout the afternoon.
``Laban all his life wanted to act in the worst way - and at that he's been very successful,'' his ``Cookin' Cheap'' cohort Larry Bly kidded, reading a fax from Mill Mountain Theatre's Doug Patterson.
One of the party's highlights was a presentation by Mayor David Bowers. Bowers deadpanned that he couldn't award Johnson a key to the city, because it might offend the 1,800 other city employees who didn't get one.
But Roanoke City Council came up with a fitting substitute, the mayor said. Then Johnson slowly unwrapped it - a large, stainless-steel spoon bedecked with a red-white-and-blue ribbon labeled ``The Ladle to the City of Roanoke.''
For good measure, Bowers gave Johnson a key to the city, after all.
``Be very careful, Laban,'' Bly cracked. ``Because I've heard that my friend David is the type who'll give you the key to the city and then change the locks on you.''
A Jefferson High School and Roanoke College graduate, Johnson retired from teaching drama and English in city schools in 1985 and took the special events coordinator job.
Since then, there has been no city Chili Cook-off, festival, concert or sporting event that he hasn't been involved in.
George ``Chip'' Snead, Roanoke's public safety director, said after the ceremony that Johnson's connectedness was the special quality he brought to the job.
``Laban was really able to reach out to all segments of the community and get them involved,'' Snead said. ``With all his teaching, mentoring, involvement with students and their families ... he could pick up the phone and call a business leader or neighborhood leader - because he knew their children. That had a great deal to do with making Roanoke a festival city.''
As the star of the afternoon took the stage, the crowd gave him a long standing ovation.
Johnson has lost a lot of weight and walks pretty slowly now, but he still sported the trademark toothy grin that has flashed countless times across TV screens and on stage.
Gesturing toward his 10th-grade Spanish teacher, Velva Wreden, Johnson said:
``Velva taught me to live every day to the fullest and never say that `R' word - never give up, never retire. And I don't want to, but it's kind of just happened to me.''
Johnson also quoted a line from one of his favorite plays, Tom Stoppard's ``Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'':
```Every exit is an entrance someplace else,''' he said. ``I don't know what's going to happen. But I hope to be a positive influence and continue to serve the citizens of this city in years to come.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PHILIP HOLMAN/Staff. Laban Johnson and his 15-yearby CNBco-star, Larry Bly, watch an episode of their ``Cookin' Cheap''
television show Tuesday during a roast in Johnson's honor at
Roanoke's Jefferson Center. The city named Elmwood Park's
amphitheater after Johnson in tribute to his years of service as a
teacher, supporter of the arts and organizer of special events.
Mayor David Bowers presented Johnson ``The Ladle to the City of
Roanoke'' - a large, beribboned stainless-steel spoon. color.