Jim Johansson

Jim (K.J.) Johansson

Jim (K.J.) Johansson passed away Sept. 8th after a short but serious illness, He was at home surrounded by a loving family.

He was born in Seattle on April 1, 1923 and lived on Bainbridge Island most of his life. He attended Lincoln Grade School and Bainbridge High School, graduating in 1941. Jim had many Japanese friends and was devastated when, in the following year, working in Los Angeles, he received news of their deportation to detainment camps.

During WWII young Johansson became an officer in the U.S. Merchant Marines transporting troops, frequently under fire, to various locales in the South Pacific. He suffered a permanent hearing loss from that time.

After the war, he intended to resume his education in law begun at the University of Washington. There were, however no places available until the following year. He was persuaded by a Naval friend to register for the law school at the University of Montana and to live at a boarding house in Missoula.

He met Anne, his future wife while she was visiting her aunt across the street from Jim's temporary quarters. She had enrolled at the university, which she had planned to attend for two years and then return to the Middle East where she had been living with her parents. Her future plans included graduation from the American University at Beirut and application at the U.S. State Dept. Fate was to decide otherwise.

They were married in 1949, shortly before Anne's eighteenth birthday. The young couple supported themselves as owners and sole workers in "Jim and Jack's Sweater Shack, selling sweaters to college students. (Anne replaced Jack when he resigned).

When Anne became pregnant the following year with their first child (another Jim) and Jim was still in school, they sold the store and Jim went to work for the realtor who had negotiated the sale of the store. In 1951 a second child (David) was born. In 1952 the couple returned to Bainbridge Island and the Johansson family home to assist Jim's father in caring for Jim's mother who was seriously ill. Subsequently three more children were born: Steven 1953, Christine 1954, and Michael, 1955.

Johansson worked for Henry Broderick in Seattle and then opened a branch office on the island in the original Bainbridge Review building at the ferry dock and eventually his own company on the site of the present MacDonalds and eventually where the Johansson-Clark is now.

As his son Michael said, "Dad was all about family and friends. He loved music, golfing, working in the yard and going to Manitou Beach with his dog, "Tessa" His other attachments were the Washington Huskies, the Seattle Mariners, and the San Francisco Giants. He was the best father and friend a son could have."

Jim Johansson is survived by his wife, his five children, eleven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Family and friends are respectfully invited to attend the Memorial Service on Friday, October 5, 2012 at 11:00 AM at Rollingbay Presbyterian Church on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Please sign the online Guest Book for the family at: www.cookfamilyfunerahome.com.