GALEN ARTHUR JOHNSON

Galen Arthur Johnson, the mellow-voiced AM radio announcer who for decades was central Minnesota's breakfast companion over WJON's airways, died on October 9, 2025 in his adopted home of Vero Beach Florida. A compelling storyteller all his life, he leaves a legacy of probably true legends, dubious tall tales, surprisingly firmly held opinions about everything from actor Fred MacMurray to classic Coca-Cola, and a loving family who will recount them for the rest of their own lives.

Galen was born on July 3, 1943 in Peoria Illinois, the first child of Virgil Johnson and Dorothy (Olson) Johnson. His memories of his early years as a faculty-kid growing up near the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus featured roving bands of kids in the company of truly great dogs. Galen, his parents, and younger brother Bradley later moved to Decatur Illinois for Virgil's career as a Caterpillar engineer. Galen attended Douglas MacArthur High School and remembered his years and friends at that school with great affection.

Galen enlisted in the US Army as a long-range weapons specialist, but his short-lived career as a sniper ended abruptly when he was overheard practicing his trumpet and encouraged to audition for the Army band instead. His musical talent earned him a spot in the band and the coveted position of Drum Major. The US Army sent his band to Kansas, Korea and Okinawa, all of which he gratefully preferred to a combat tour in Vietnam. He identified with the hero of The Music Man, the charming charlatan Prof. Harold Hill, and he frequently quoted the character's line "I always think there's a band, kid."

Upon completing his Army service, Galen returned to the place he'd always thought of as his home, his paternal grandparents' farm in Clear Lake Minnesota. In a stroke of good fortune that was undoubtedly the making of him, Galen married Sandra Shaver on December 4, 1967. Together, Galen and Sandra raised a family and built a home on the Clear Lake farmland that he loved so much and where he felt his grandmother Ella Johnson's presence.

Along the way Galen found the ultimate outlet for a raconteur who doesn't require conversational partners so much as an audience – a microphone and talk radio. Over a 20-year career in talk radio, Galen was the voice of several central Minnesota morning radio programs at stations KFAM, KLGR, WJON and KCLD. The story of Galen's first interview for a radio job is recorded in family lore because, after strolling in off the street, he gave as his sole qualification that he "listen[ed] to the radio quite a bit". To the astonishment of the receptionist on duty that day "they hired him!"

In his spare time, he cleared trails in the woods on his Clear Lake farm, chopped firewood and planted trees, tinkered with an antique Packard car, motorcycles and snowmobiles, installed (and named) a remarkable number of light posts around the yard, and collected a miscellany of misfit livestock. In addition to the obligatory herd of barn cats, calves, ducks, geese, chickens, dairy goats, and horses lived peacefully at what was always more of an animal sanctuary than functioning farm. After completing his nightly perimeter check, dog and kid in tow, evenings at the farm often included a rousing and intensely competitive game of "guess the order in which the yard lights will come on."

Sandra, whose steadfast, boundless and durable love for Galen has inspired awe and frequent amazement, was Galen's partner in life and far-fetched schemes for 58 years. In all those years, the two traded the roles of "creative genius/mastermind" and "bemused partner" back and forth between them. In their early years, to the horror of loved ones helping them move, he hoarded tin coffee cans and books, and she hoarded unfinished furniture refinishing projects. Their love story, which could have been a literary creation of Erich Segal, was most notable for featuring two equally matched forces of nature, neither of whom would ever concede defeat. Their fierce kitchen water fights will live on in the memories of witnesses forever. Their marriage was a battle of attrition that they both won.

"Do you know that you're loved by your people?" was Galen's way of declaring his abiding love for his children. He exhorted his four children to be individuals, think for themselves, remember that family are the only people who genuinely care about you, and to always be home by midnight because nothing good happens after midnight. In his home, the most censure was reserved for those who were unoriginal or dull, who spoke in unmodulated tones, or failed to "sit like a lady" when wearing skirts. To his son he gave the sage advice to always respond to police officers with "yes sir" or "yes ma'am", and to rest assured that "Johnson men always get caught. So don't." With disconcerting accuracy in the years before GPS, he somehow always knew where his kids were and never failed to have their back. He was their ultimate champion, always.

In his retirement Galen discovered a love of the warm winters, suntans, and wildlife of South Florida. He delighted in his Florida life, first on Sanibel Island, then Fort Meyers, and eventually Vero Beach. Galen's retirement wardrobe consisted primarily of a series of gaudy novelty T-shirts featuring Floridian frogs and other tropical creatures, usually paired with disreputably short cut-off Levi's jeans.

Galen communed with dogs all his life, raising many excellent dogs including McGee (the first and the second), Pogo and Charlie. His boon companions in his last years were his cats: the fabulously named Pffitz!, Fritz the Elder, and Fritz the Younger. Fritz the Elder, who passed away just a few months before Galen, was Galen's precious, loyal and unfailing friend in years of health difficulties and sleepless nights.

Galen is survived by his wife Sandra, and his children Mishel (Mark) Carlson of Bemidji MN, Regan (Rachel) Johnson of Clear Lake MN, Nicole (David) Hoffman of Wayzata MN, and Victoria (Alex) Lupu of Mountain View CA. Also left to tell and creatively embellish his stories are his 11 grandchildren and their spouses, 1 great grandchild, his brother Bradley Johnson, sisters and brothers-in-law, and many nieces and nephews.

In keeping with Galen's wishes no public service will be held. The family will host a private celebration of life at a later date and invites you to celebrate Galen in your own way - perhaps with an ice cold Coca-Cola on a hot summer day, or by cursing the long Minnesota winter over strong black coffee.