Dorothy Johnson

Dorothy Johnson

Dorothy Marie Johnson, 84, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., and formerly of Sentinel Butte, Beach and Bismarck, went to her heavenly home on April 20, 2009, after a short illness. Services will be held at 10 a.m. MDT today, April 23, at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dickinson, with the Rev. Steven Tangen officiating. Interment will be in Dickinson Cemetery.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to services.

Dorothy Marie (Dahlke) Johnson was born June 23, 1924, at Gladstone, the daughter of Richard and Mary (Zirmer) Dahlke. She was raised on a farm near Gladstone and attended country school through the eighth grade. She completed two years of high school by correspondence and boarded with a family in Dickinson to complete her high school education by attending Model High School. Dorothy went on to further her education and completed her Standard Certificate from Dickinson State College in 1943.

It was at her first teaching post in Sentinel Butte where she met Carl Johnson. They were married June 14, 1945, and made their home on a farm near Sentinel Butte where they resided until their retirement in 1988 when they moved to Beach. In 1991, they moved to Dickinson and in 2000, to Bismarck. Dorothy was a great homemaker and farmer's wife. She tended huge gardens and canned large volumes of produce each year. Dorothy was a great cook and enjoyed baking as well. A skilled seamstress, Dorothy prided herself in the dresses and shirts she sewed for her and Carl to wear to go square dancing. The trip to Hawaii to attend the Hawaiian State Square Dance Convention in 1975 was one of her fondest memories. Dorothy enjoyed traveling which included family trips to the Black Hills, Yellowstone Park, Winnipeg and Disney World in California, as well as a New England Fall Foliage bus tour that she, Carl and Clark experienced.

Dorothy was a long-time member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sentinel Butte and later a member of St John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dickinson. She was actively involved in Home Sentinels Homemakers Club and the ladies circle bible study group for many years. Over the years, Dorothy used her teaching credentials and great organizational skills by teaching in Sentinel Butte and at several of the country schools in the area. She enjoyed this immensely - especially the Christmas programs. A teacher to the core, she was an avid reader and amassed a library which spanned the homemade bookcases that lined the basement walls of her home. She was well-known for her dry sense of humor which came through in her rummage sale ads which stated 'old lady pack rat' and everyone knew that the sale was at Dorothy's house.

Dorothy is survived by five children, Helen Johnson, Apple Valley, Minn., Ann (Stan Wanner) Bredemeier, Bismarck, Bruce Johnson, Minneapolis, Craig (Julie) Johnson, Inver Grove Heights, and Clark (Lisa) Johnson, Devils Lake; five grandchildren, Meredith (Justin) Palecek, Robbinsdale, Minn., Carisa Carlson, Minneapolis, Danny Johnson and Stephanie Johnson, Devils Lake, and Addison Johnson, Inver Grove Heights; two step-grandchildren, James Wanner, Queen Creek, Ariz., and Jessica Wanner, Washington, D.C.; two great-grandchildren, Celia and Lukas Palecek, Robbinsdale; and two nieces.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Carl; her parents and two sisters.

Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.stevensonfuneralhome.com.