Birmingham civil rights activist Colonel Stone Johnson has died (slideshow)

Enlarge Frank Couch -- The Birmingham News 000713- NEWS STAFF PHOTO CHARLES NESBITT; REPORTER HANSEN/TEMPLE; DEPT CITY; REMEMBERING CHURCH BOMBINGS. 81 yr old Colonel Stone Johnson in front of Bethel Baptist Church. In 1958, just minutes before it exploded, Johnson carried a 5-gallon paint bucket filled with dymanite away from the side of the church. Colonel Stone Johnson gallery (16 photos)

Bishop Calvin Woods said Mr. Johnson fell ill about two weeks ago and Woods took him to Princeton Baptist Medical Center.

"He was a dedicated servant of God," Woods said. "He was a man of faith and a man of courage. He was steadfast and unmovable."

After a 1956 Christmas bombing at Bethel Baptist Church where the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth -- who died in 2011 -- was pastor, Mr. Johnson helped organize a group of watchmen who protected the church.

On June 29, 1958, restaurant worker Laverne McWilliams was returning home after midnight and reported a smoking object next to the church, Mr. Johnson recalled in a 2011 interview with The Birmingham News.

Mr. Johnson and several other men were standing guard from the front porch of a church deacon's house across the street from the church when McWilliams alerted them. "She said, 'Are y'all going to sit there and let the church burn?'" Johnson recalled.

"It was a five-gallon white bucket with smoke coming out. She thought it was a fire. Will Hall said, 'Let's go check it out, Stoney.' It was 16 sticks of dynamite."

The dynamite exploded, and the impact shook Bethel Baptist Church and neighboring houses.

"That dynamite blew out windows in houses five blocks away," Johnson said. "It broke glasses and plates in the cupboards. All the fixtures in the church fell on the floor."

Up until his final years, Mr. Johnson, known for his calm demeanor and trademark cowboy hat, was a regular volunteer at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and a common sight in Kelly Ingram Park near the statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  Mr. Johnson also served as a bodyguard for when King visited Birmingham.

The city of Birmingham in 2011 dedicated a street in his honor.

Mr. Johnson's wife of nearly 70 years, Beatrice, died in May at the age of 89. Woods said the two never had children. Woods said he has been notifying relatives of Johnson who live out of state.

Mr. Johnson was born on Sept. 9, 1918, in Lowndes County to Fannie and Colonel Johnson. His family moved to Birmingham when he was 4.

After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1939, he was hired to work at the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, where he worked for nearly 40 years, starting in 1942. He became active in labor issues and he said he was the first black union representative for the company in Birmingham.

Some people mistake Johnson's first name for a military title, but Johnson took that name from his father, who was named Colonel to honor a Union officer in the Civil War, William R. Brewster, who led a brigade at Gettysburg. ''My father wanted me to have his name,'' Mr. Johnson said in 2011.