Orion Harold Johnson 1916-1997

JOHNSON, STOA, COATS, COATES, HEIM

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 12/29/2012 at 21:51:54

O. Harold Johnson
Estherville – Services for O. [Orion] Harold Johnson, 81, of rural Estherville, will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church South of Gruver, with Pastor Jack Torgerson officiating. Interment will be in Swan Lake Twp. Cemetery, rural Gruver. He died Tuesday, March 18, 1997 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn.

Visitation will be Friday from 4-8 p.m. at Henry-Olson-Fuhrman Funeral Home in Estherville.

He was born March 12, 1916 in Gruver, the son of John and Gladys (Coats [Coates]) Johnson. He attended Quastad Country School and graduated from Maple Hill High School in 1934. He then attended Waldorf College and graduated with a teaching certificate in 1936. April 18, 1937 he married Hedvig Stoa in Moscow, Minn. The couple moved to Swan Lake Twp. where they farmed. He was employed for 6-months in the shipyards in Long Beach, Calif. during World War II. In 1949 the family moved to Estherville where they owned and operated Skateland. He farmed until 1963 and they moved to their current farm in Swan Lake Twp. He retired in 1990.

He was a member of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church south of Gruver where he was past president of the congregation, trustee, deacon, Sunday school teacher and a sponsor for the Youth Group. He was also a member of the Sons of Norway and Farm Bureau.

Survivors include his wife, Hedvig, rural Estherville, sons: Jerry of rural Estherville, Kenneth of Emporia, Kans. and Rich of Arnolds Park; grandchildren: Greg, Kevin, Dave, Lynn, Jeff, Corey and Jennifer; great-grandchildren: Nichole, Jeremy and Andrew; one sister, Mildred Heim, Tucson, Ariz.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Ralph. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, March 20, 1997)