Ervin Dean Johnson

ERVIN DEAN JOHNSON
June 8, 1932 ˜ September 23, 2023

Ervin Dean Johnson was born on June 8, 1932, to Ernest and Louise (Wadholm) Johnson at his home near Van Hook, ND. He weighed only 2.5 lbs. Dr. Blatherwick told his mother that he would never survive, given his small size. Undeterred by the doctor’s opinion, Ervin’s grandmother, Ella Johnson, placed him in a small shoebox lined with cotton balls and kept him warm on the open wood-oven door. She fed him with an eyedropper. Within a year, he contracted pneumonia. Grandma Johnson stewed onions in water on top of the potbelly heater and put a wet cloth topped with the stewed onions on his chest. Ervin survived.
Ervin met and married his high school sweetheart, Leone, on Oct. 31, 1951, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, rural Van Hook, and together they raised their six children, Sharon, Rhonda, Audrey, Dean, Penny, and Rick in Sanish and New Town, ND.
Ervin was a hard worker and a man of many trades. He was a farmer and a rancher. He grew wheat, barley, oats, and flax. He raised black baldy cattle (a crossbreed of Hereford and Black Angus). Ervin sold bulk fuel for Westland Oil Co. for 17 years. He owned and operated heating and excavation businesses and a convenience store. He worked as a diesel mechanic for Colf Construction before retiring at 78, in North Clark County, WA, where he lived near a son and daughter. Ervin was a mechanic and craftsman. He would overhaul farm and heavy equipment and, in his later years, enjoyed welding and making horseshoe furniture and art for his kids and grandkids. There is a little piece of heaven in each of their homes.
Ervin was a family man. His family always came ahead of everything else. He was caring, loving, and thoughtful to all his kids and grandkids. He was the best role model for teaching us how to ride bikes and horses and fix cars and tractors. But most importantly, being an honest person and a hard worker, there was never an obstacle too big or a mountain too high when it came to his family. He would give you his last dollar or the shirt off his back.
Ervin, the greatest man to bless our lives, will be deeply missed by the love of his life, his children, and their families.
He is survived by his loving wife, Leone, Vancouver, WA; children, Sharon (David) Lien, La Center, WA, Audrey Johnson, New Town, ND, Dean (Mary) Johnson, Amboy, WA, Penny (Paul) Fredericks, Twin Buttes, ND and Rick (Kathy) Johnson, Lincoln, ND; and his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who meant the world to him, sisters-in-law, Lyla Rutherford, Avondale, AZ, and Judy Johnson, Parshall, ND; and brother-in-law, Lyle Locken, New Town, and many nieces and nephews.
He is greeted in Heaven by his parents; daughter, Rhonda; grandchildren, Sarah and Coda; great-grandchildren, Gracie May and Layla; his grandmother, Ella; sister, Ramona; brother, LaVern; sister-in-law, Donna Jackson; nieces, Dena, Shelley, Faye, and Renae; and nephew, Tony.
A celebration of life will be held on Oct. 24, 2023, at 11 a.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, the same church in which he and Leone were married, now rural New Town, ND.
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