Harvey L. Johnson

1928 - 2018

Johnson, Harvey L. 1928-2018 Harvey wrote his own obituary. Harvey was born in Ashland, Wisconsin on April 10, 1928 and died at UW Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin on February 4, 2018. He died at age 89 due to many health issues and a broken heart after losing two beloved wives. Harvey crossed the bar into the folds of Mother Nature's good earth following his wives, Shirley Arlene Workman and Patricia Mary Johnson; parents, Axel and Alpha Johnson; Nettie Johnson, Stepmother; Marion Middlecamp, sister; Warren and Marge Johnson, brother and sister-in-law; Jim and Rita Ludack, Harold and Delores Watkins, Robert and Vivian Wollenberg, and Charles Sandoval, life-long friends; Therese Harmon, sister-in-law; James Franklin, friend and neighbor; Dale and Emma Johnson; Asko (Whitemore) Ruuska; Pat Johnson (Harvey)------leaving Kathi Johnson Rock and Michael Rock (daughter and son-in-law); Stephanie Stichter (daughter); Peter (Daphne) and John (Alan Klein), Middlecamp, nephews; Neil Harmon, brother-in-law, and sons Tim and John; Tim (Rosemarie) Workman, stepson, and daughters Anna, Kimberly and Roxanne; Kimery Workman (Gordon Staff), stepdaughter; Monica Workman (Ali Giarushi), stepdaughter, children, Jamila, Mohammed, Samuni, and Sumaya; Andrea Workman (Patrick Leong), stepdaughter and children Andrew and Catherine; brother-in-laws, Harvey (Pat), Milton (Emma), Dale (Janet), and Roger (Joanne); and Ruth Tamms, Wayne and Toni Synder, Denise Clark (Michael), and Delores Sandoval, longtime family friends, to carry on. Harvey begs forgiveness of all the people he has hurt, living or dead. Lastly, he was very grateful for the kind and extensive assistance of his son-in-law, Michael Rock, during the last year of his life and beyond. Harvey loved the arts and literature, even a poem: "We met at the end of the party, when most of the drinks were dead, And all the glasses dirty 'Have this that's left,' you said. We walked through the last of summer When shadows reach long and blue, across days that were growing shorter: You said, 'there's autumn too.' Always for you what's finished Is nothing, and what survives, cancels the failed, the famished, as if we had fresh lives From that night on and just living, could make me unaware of June and the guests arriving And I not there." ---Philip Larkin (1922-1985) Harvey sang as a tenor in the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus for 25 years and was active in the Milwaukee and Minnesota Rose Societies. He loved nature and the outdoors and was an avid cross-country skier in his younger years. To honor Harvey's wishes, cremation arrangements were made through the Minnesota Cremation Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Nitardy Funeral Home in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Memorial donations may be made to the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus (designate Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair), the Milwaukee Rose Society, The International Owl Center in Houston, MN, the Dodge Nature Center in Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, or a charity of your choice. Burial services are private, for immediate family only. A Celebration of Harvey's Life will be held on July 28, 2018 in Ashland, Wisconsin---for more information, e-mail kathijr@yahoo.com.