Traverse City, Michigan
BEULAH — Heidi Johnson passed away Monday, Aug. 4, 2008.
Heidi was born on Sept. 6, 1963, and graduated from Lansing Community College with a Photography degree. She was born in Traverse City and raised in Benzie County. Benzie County was her foundation for her love and unique appreciation for the area.
She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend. Her gentle nature and her kind heart were felt by all who knew her and will be remembered forever. Heidi will be deeply missed by her family and friends who remember her for her passion and unique talent for capturing true, inner beauty through a lens.
Heidi was a published author and combined her three passions, history, photography and the beauty of a forgotten northern Michigan asylum in her book, "Angles in the Architecture". Her book reflects her intelligence, depth and her overwhelming compassion for the mentally ill and their struggles. Her book has become a local best-seller and was awarded a Michigan Notable Book Award in 2002.
Heidi taught and shared her love for photography with students at the Interlochen Center for the Arts for years.
She is survived by her mother, Carolyn Johnson; her father, Dennis Johnson; her sister, Gretchen Boekeloo and brother-in-law, David Boekeloo; and her adored nephew, Cooper Boekeloo.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 9, at the Jowett Family Funeral Home in Benzonia, with Pastor Dan Ingersol officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.
Jowett Family Funeral Homes and Cremation Service, Benzonia, where beautiful ceremonies celebrate life, is handling the arrangements.
This obituary was originally published in the Record-Eagle.
I can't believe it's taken me this long to find out. I'm so sorry that we didn't stay in touch after we lived together in Minneapolis. I've tried to find her but never did. I was just looking at old photos of a camping trip we did together with my young daughter Kaeton at the time and was missing her. Now I see this and my grief is fresh. How? All my love to her sister and mother who I met in 1991.
Gina Forkel
November 17, 2018 | Bend, OR | Friend
The world is not better without you! Love and miss you.
Derrick Turner
June 13, 2018 | EAST LANSING, MI | Friend
Hi Heidi! 9/6/2009
It's your Birthday today....We miss you so much. Our love for you is forever........Dennis Johnson, Carolyn
Johnson, Gretchen Johnson Boekeloo,
David Boekeloo, and Cooper Boekeloo.
September 06, 2009
To all of Heidi's family & friends. I've been thinking about her a lot these past few days. A trip to Building 50 last week brought many memories back of going to see Heidi in her office in the afternoons while I was up north working on classes. Her view of the world through her camera lens will always speak to me. I wish you all well.
Michael Stephens
August 06, 2009 | Mishawaka, IN
A year later and all we have left of Heidi is this page and her photographs.
Missing you.
August 06, 2009
Thinking of Heidi this week, missing her. Grieving the loss of all the beauty she brought through her personality and art. I wish her peace. I send my prayers & well wishes to her family.
Krista Post
August 06, 2009 | Mpls, MN
To Cal, Denny, Gretchen, Coop and David, We think of Heidi and all of you so often. We shed alot of tears because we all have lost her. Our tears are for all of you. I have this thought that it would be so neat to know Heidi has met her grandma, Marie Settles who died suddenly Oct. 20, 1946. (Also at age 44). We love all of you very much. Aunt Cindy, Uncle Bill, Barb and Liv, Bill jr, Renee and Kaitlyn and Sam
August 05, 2009
MISS U!!!
Hope you are at peace......
luv U......Terri-Anne
July 27, 2009
I just learned of Heidi's death after googling her name. We were very close friends the years she lived in Minneapolis. We parted when she left, and we did not keep in touch. However, her photos hang in my home & workplace, so I cannot help but think of her often. I was one of her models while she was just learning & experimenting with infrared photography. I visited her twice in MI, and was taken by the beauty of the area she was from & returned to. I wished we could have reconnected and...
Krista Post
June 12, 2009 | Minneapolis, MN
