Parallel Journeys: How to Make a Friendship Last Five Decades

Each was there to help the other’s wife and young child. One time, Cindy McIntyre got locked out of their apartment, wearing sweats in the freezing cold, when her toddler closed the door. She called Johnson, who came to the rescue.

McIntyre left the Navy after six years and Johnson continued on to have a 27-year career, retiring in the rank of captain.

Then their paths crossed unexpectedly once again when Johnson’s family ended up living near McIntyre’s son Casey in Virginia, as he started his own family. Johnson served as a “surrogate” grandparent, teaching Casey how to do handy work on his house and spending time with him at NFL games. Ed and Judy Johnson raced over when Casey’s wife went into labor again, on New Year’s Eve.

“I’d just poured myself a stiff drink and the phone rang, and I was like, okay, that’s getting thrown out,” Johnson joked. It reminded him of New Year’s Eve 1980, when Judy stood under the carport as one of their fellow sailors wives went into labor.

“I think this friendship has happened for a purpose,” Johnson said. “Our families could not be closer if we were related. It’s absolutely a bigger thing.”  After 47 years, Johnson said, he has realized that people are the most important things in his life, whether they are family or friends who are like family. 

“Glenn and I both have the same perspective, and that’s what has helped us make this relationship really, really good for the long term,” he said. He described McIntyre as faithful, generous and a family man. “I’ve never seen him blow up at anybody.” 

His relationship with McIntyre has been the “least dramatic” of any of his friendships because of their shared experience, he said. But enduring friendships are no accident, he added: “They are important and they need—like a plant—cultivation and continued work.”