Arnold Johnson

Arnold (Arne) Johnson, 69, passed away peacefully on February 19, 2025, after a short battle with cancer. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, August 2, 1955, and grew up in Shenandoah, Iowa, spending much time with aunts, uncles, and cousins. He moved to Maryville Missouri for college and later to Omaha for law school where he met his wife and best friend, Mary Le. His work in the oil and gas industry later brought them to Houston.
Arne is a 1980 graduate of Creighton University School of Law where he served chair of the alumni advisory board and 1977 graduate of Northwest Missouri State University where he served as president of the foundation board.
He began his professional career as a landman at Atlantic Richfield in 1980, serving in positions of increasing responsibility at its subsidiary, Vastar Resources, until they were acquired by BP. He was Senior Counsel at BP before joining Noble Energy in 2001. At Noble Energy he served as senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary until his retirement in 2017.
Arne held leadership roles in many professional organizations including World Affairs Council Houston, Institute for Energy Law, Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section of the Texas State Bar, and the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section of the Houston Bar Association. He was a member of the Texas, Colorado and Nebraska State Bar Associations and authored and presented various articles on ethics and legal topics involving the oil and gas industry.
He served on the board of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He was a member of St Vincent De Paul Catholic Church where he served on the pastoral council and most recently St Anne Catholic Church in Houston and St John's in Fayetteville, Texas.
Arne was a friend to everyone that he met, loved talking to people and finding out about them. He always found a way to bring humor to conversations and make people laugh. Born in a small town, he could not wait to move to the big city. Later in life he found a retreat in Round Top, Texas and realized he could not wait to get back to the small town. He enjoyed spending time on the porch with his neighbors in Round Top. He had a passion for music, art, and cowboy boots and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico frequently over the last 10 years. He loved animals including his cats, Henry, Toby, Tory, and Tomas.
He is preceded in death by, his father, Keith Johnson, his mother, Esther Johnson Butler and stepfather, Jack Butler. He leaves behind his wife of 44 years, Mary Le Conway Johnson, brother, Roger Johnson, sisters in law, Juli Piotrowski and Therese Jensen, brothers in law, Tim (Mary) Conway, Mark (Mary Anne) Conway, Tom (Ann) Conway, and Joseph (Barrie) Conway, nieces and nephews, Michaela (Seth) Bell, Sarah (Rick) Reeves, Aaron (Taylor) Johnson, TJ (Charlene) Conway, Jacqueline(Samuel) Kidd, Michael Conway, Jacob Conway, Bridgit Conway and Abby Jensen.
The family requests that any remembrance be made to Arts for Rural Texas, Fayetteville, TX, The Bugle Boy, La Grange TX, or the Gardenia E. Janssen Animal Shelter, La Grange TX.
Many thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff at Methodist Hospital that provided kindness and compassionate care in his last days.
A celebration of life will be planned in Round Top, Texas.