James Johnson

1930 - 2023

Johnson, James
Jim
06/02/1930 - 11/16/2023

James Paul (Jim) Johnson was born June 2, 1930, in Yankton, South Dakota to Fred and Evelyn Johnson. He died peacefully in his home on November 16, 2023. His children, Dea Carlson, Drake Johnson and Julie (JC) Cagle were present.
Jim loved playing football and running track at Lubbock High school. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Il. where he met his wife Nancy Brown in their first class in the speech school. Jim married Nancy the same day they graduated. He then served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a jet fighter pilot from 1952-1956.
He moved his family to Boulder, Colorado where he obtained his law degree from the University of Colorado. After graduation, he moved his growing family to Ft. Collins where he worked in several jobs including Deputy District Attorney, Municipal Judge in Ault, Director and a Founder of the Aqua-Tec (Water-Pic) Corp. He taught business law and coached track at CSU. He was proud of his 30 years of service to the San Francisco Theological Seminary where he took his turn as Board President.
In 1966 he ran for Congress in protest of the Viet Nam war but lost the election. In 1972 he ran for Congress again and was elected. He and the family moved to the Washington DC area where he served for eight years.
Jim was known for his kindness, wit and intelligence. In the book Watching Politicians: Essays on Participant Observation, Richard Fenno noted that Jim could quote the Bible (or was it Shakespeare?) and swear like a sailor. Mr. Fenno wrote that Jim was the kindest politician he met, and the only one to spend time with him after the workday was done.
When Jim left Congress in 1980, the Rocky Mountain Journal said that "He had a passionate commitment to peace, justice and common sense. He is as honest as any public official who ever served, not only fiscally but intellectually as well. He has respected his office and served his constituents diligently, but was never seduced either by power or the trappings of power."
A strong advocate of term limits, he retired from Congress in 1980 after passage of his Wilderness Preservation bill, returning to Fort Collins to practice law. He was appointed the Receiver for a vast pyramid scheme and successfully returned all of the scammed investors' money.
Jim helped create the Children's Clinic, served on the school board for PSD, drove for Meals on Wheels, and provided college tuition for numerous students, which he called "a privilege." He once convinced his family to give up a ski trip in order to provide a prosthetic leg to a man in need.
Jim is survived by daughter Dea Carlson, son-in-law Woody Carlson, daughter JC Cagle, son Drake Johnson, daughter-in-law Christy Johnson; 9 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren with another on the way.
A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 531 South College Avenue, Fort Collins, CO on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 4PM. A reception at Drake and Christy Johnson's house will follow. For those unable to attend, the service will be available online at https://firstpresfc.org/livestream