Marvin L. Johnston

June 19, 1929 – October 25, 2020

Marv lost his battle with Congenital Heart Failure and Acute Renal Failure Sunday, October 25, 2020. He had been battling the Congenital Heart Failure for a few months and the Dr. gave him the option of having stints put in to help his heart. While the procedure was being done there was more damage discovered than originally thought and it was decided to do the right side of heart then go back in a few days later to do the left side. While waiting between procedures Marv had complication with his kidneys and they started shutting down causing the Acute Renal Failure. He passed away with his family around him.

Marv was born June 19, 1929 to Ernest H. and Ila Mae Johnston in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a child, the family moved to a farm outside of Ashton, Idaho. The farm was quite a few miles out bordering the Targhee National Forest. He attended his first 3 years of school in a one room school where 1st through 8th attended together. Him and his siblings had to walk over a mile to and from school and to hear it from him it was uphill both ways with 10-foot snow drifts during the winter. From there they moved to Bingham Canyon located near Kennecott Copper Mine. The town is no longer there as it became a part of the mine as it expanded. Marv would tell stories about the one lane tunnel that went through the mountain with a stop light at each end allowing traffic to flow one way through the tunnel, and about the all the houses in town having copper shingles. From Bingham, the family moved to Brigham City where his parents lived until they passed.

Marv graduated from Box Elder High School and was drafted into the Army shortly after. When he went to the recruitment office, he selected the Corps of Engineers for his career choice. He was then sent to Korea where upon arrival was assigned as a radio operator at a forward position. He was not very happy with this as radio operators had a short life expectancy during battle, as the enemy would try to take them out to disrupt communications. He never talked about any of the battles until the last couple of years. If you asked him about his time over there, he would talk about all of the good times he had while at the camp. After his discharge, his father and him went to Anchorage, Alaska to work as carpenters. Marv worked as a carpenter as well as working on the railroad resetting tracks and ties. After being laid off for the winter he went back to Brigham where he met and married his first wife, Jennie LaVern McIntire, and took a job at HAFB in the computer section working his way up to computer programmer, where he was over several systems including base payroll. Marv and Lavern moved from Brigham City to Roy and then on to Sunset. While working at HAFB, Marv also volunteered as a reserve police officer on the Sunset PD where he would ride with the regular office so they would not be alone on duty. Marv retired from HAFB about 1987 and then worked for a base contractor as a programmer close to the same area as he had been in before retirement. He worked for another seven years before his final retirement. After the passing of his wife 2000, he met and fell in love with Ilene McDonald and was married 2002. Marv and Ilene loved spending time with family and friends. They loved taking trips to Pennsylvania, Florida, and camping in Utah and Idaho.

Marv is preceded in death by his wife, LaVern; his parents, Ernie and Ila Mae; Sisters: Rose, Elva, Nona and brother, Fred.

Marv is survived by his wife, Ilene; brother, Doug (Ilene) Johnston; Children: Kit Johnston, Matt (Donna) Johnston, Tina Hartranft, Danny Johnston, Kirk (Carrie) Bosch, David (Betty) Bosch, Cyndi Cummings; 20 grandchildren, several great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, October 31, 2020 at Evergreen Memorial Park 100 N Monroe Blvd. Ogden, Utah at 1:00 PM. A viewing will be held Friday, October 30, 2020 at 6:00 – 8:00 PM and prior to the graveside at 11:00 -12:00 PM at Myers Mortuary 5865 S 1900 N Roy, Utah.

Live-stream services may be seen at the 'Myers Mortuary & Evergreen Memorial Park' Facebook page, as well as at the bottom of Marv's obituary page, starting at 1:00 p.m.