May 21, 1942- Aug. 12, 2013
Joan Johnson, 71, died peacefully Aug. 12, 2013 after a five-year battle with dementia.
She was born May 21, 1942 in Lebanon, to Frank and Esther Brown. She grew up in Coos Bay and Sweet Home, where she met the love of her life, Larry Johnson, while working at A&W.
They married Dec. 14, 1963 at the Sweet Home United Methodist Church.
They traveled together to Europe, while Mr. Johnson was in the military. There, the first of their two daughters, Christi, was born in Germany in 1966.
They returned to the States in 1966, to Illinois, where they had Michele in 1969.
They moved back to Sweet Home in 1979 after Mr. Johnson retired from the Air Force after 22 years of service. They raised their girls in Sweet Home.
In 1995 they started traveling as snowbirds in their motorhome to more than 40 states. El Centro, Calif. and Corpus Christi, Texas were their favorite places to go in the winter.
Mrs. Johnson loved spending time with her family and friends, fishing and camping, and she especially loved her grandbabies.
She is survived by her husband, Larry Johnson of Nyssa; sister Linda Bettin and brother-in-law Clift of Coos Bay; brother Richard Brown and sister-in-law Shelee of Medical Lake, Wash.; daughters, Christi Johnson of Bend, and Michele and son-in-law Robert Kester of Meridian, Idaho; and seven grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank Brown and Esther Pratt; and sister Janis Belcher.
A celebration of life will be at 4 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Linda and Claude Jones’s home, 2360 Cedar St., Sweet Home. Mr. Johnson will scatter her ashes, per her request, in Corpus Christi.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local Alzheimer’s-Dementia foundation.