Local gun enthusiast Patricia Johnson was born in Torrance and grew up around the beach cities. She worked various jobs such as a production assistant at what was then UPN 13, an assistant at an interior design firm and then retail management for about nine years.
She met who would become her husband around that time through a mutual friend and it was by pure chance since she was invited last minute to a group outing to Disneyland.
“I guess you could say we met and fell in love at the Magic Kingdom — at least that’s what we tell our kids,” Johnson said. They’ve been married for 17 years and have twin daughters who are 5 years old and an 8 year-old son.
In addition to being a stay-at-home mom now, Johnson recently spearheaded an effort to bring a new chapter of the Well Armed Woman’s shooting group to Apple Valley.
Johnson helps organize monthly events open to all women 21 years or older. The group has partered with the Rancho Magnum Range to help members learn safe gun handling skills and time on the range.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: I volunteer with my twins and multiples club, The High Desert Mothers of Multiples and just recently started a women’s shooting club chapter, The Well Armed Woman, in the High Desert. I also love to vegetable garden and do home improvement projects around the house.
Q: Who is someone who had a big influence on your life?
A: My mother was a single parent and her ability to pull herself up with four children after a divorce, find a job and then support us really made an impact. She always sacrificed, even growing up. Her family was very poor and even at a young age she was always taking care of her family. She’s been through so much but she still has a kind heart and will go out of her way to help someone.
Q: Where do you find deep satisfaction?
A: My husband and children. I’m happy to have met someone who is so dedicated to me and our children. My children make me proud by being good students at school and it reinforces my choice to stay at home with them. We were blessed enough to be able to do it.
Q: What’s a top issue facing Apple Valley or the broader local community, and what’s your take on it?
A: The whole gun control issue. It’s not so much gun control but our 2nd Amendment rights. Once you abolish one right, it paves the way for our other rights to be stripped away. Where does it stop? I also hate that society has turned from “what can I contribute” to “when is my next handout coming?” People who work hard for what they have are victims of those that think they can just steal it away.
Q: What music gets you moving?
A: I love ’80s music. It’s what I grew up on and back then artists actually had talent. I can’t believe what is played now passes for music. My husband and I can pass hours just listening to an ’80s station on Pandora.
Q: Tell us about your faith.
A: My family and I regularly attend High Desert Church. It makes me weep to think that they are removing God from schools. At least in the High Desert, the schools still say the complete Pledge of Allegiance, including “one nation under God.”
Q: Who was your hero as a kid? Do you have a hero today (or someone you especially admire)?
A: My mom was and always will be my hero. Today, it would be my husband. It sounds sappy but he comes home after a hard day at work climbing telephone poles and will cook, clean and take care of the kids knowing that I don’t feel good. To me that is my hero — no, my superhero!
Q: What person, living or from history, would you most like to have dinner with and why? What would you ask them?
A: Ronald Reagan. Over dinner, I would ask if he could come back and help get our country back to the way it was when he was president.
Q: Tell us about your three favorite movies. One that makes you laugh? One that makes you weep? One that inspires you?
A: “Trading Places” with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd makes me laugh every time and I usually avoid depressing or sad movies. I prefer sci-fi or thrillers.
Q: What makes you tick?
A: I’m not the type to sit still. Even when I’m home I am usually working on something. That’s one of the reasons why I am involved in my twins and multiples club and the shooting club. I want to help and support women and my husband is totally supportive of my many ventures.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say, anything you’d like to get off your chest?
A: Don’t ever let anyone box you into a stereotype. Most people meet me for the first time and I am not what they expected!
Q: How can readers get a hold of you?
A: They can e-mail me at TWAWapplevalley@gmail.com or check out my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TheWellArmedWomanAppleValleyCAChapter.
Who would you like to see profiled in an upcoming Q&A? Drop us a line at News@AppleValley-Review.com.