Audrey Jean (Conlee) Johnson 1940-2020

CONLEE, JOHNSON, HAUGE

Posted By: Barry R Huntsinger (email)
Date: 9/9/2020 at 05:58:06

Audrey Jean (Conlee) Johnson, was born on September 26, 1940 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Allen R. and Marie A. (Hauge) Conlee. She passed away on Monday, July 6, 2020 at Pearl Valley Nursing Home in Estherville, Iowa at the age of 79 years.

She graduated from Estherville High School in 1958. After graduation, she attended Methodist Nursing School and Morningside College in Sioux City where she obtained her RN degree.

On April 21, 1961 she was united in marriage to Jerry Johnson at the First Presbyterian Church in Estherville. Jerry and Audrey went on many fun travels together with Jerry being the adventurer/short-cut guru and Audrey making sure they stayed alive. Audrey was a Surgical Nurse in Tucson, Arizona for a few years before returning to Estherville. Audrey and Jerry bought a farm on the East side of Swan Lake and started farming and raising a family. While helping Jerry on the farm, planting and tending to numerous, beautiful gardens, and raising her three children, she also worked as an OB Nurse for Holy Family Hospital.

As a dedicated and attentive mother, there was never a doubt to her children that she had thought about every aspect of danger/pain that could happen in any situation and when those situations would arise, she never failed to take control of the moment in super-nurse style to remedy the pain and wipe away the tears. In 1985, she went back to school at Buena Vista and in 1987 she received her BS in Mental Health and Social Work. She used this degree to become the Head Nurse at Forest Ridge from 1988 until 2007. Her time as a nurse touched the lives of countless young adults and her legacy of love and patience will undoubtedly make our world a better place for many years to come.

Audrey enjoyed working in her yard and garden, planting all sorts of fruit trees, and landscaping every square foot of the farmstead to be unique and perfect in its own way. She was a gifted artist and an accomplished painter and had a love for oil painting, watercolor, sewing, woodworking, and reupholstering. She used her creativity to enrich and add beauty to her home. Audrey enjoyed baking and making wine and grape jelly from her grapevines and her chocolate covered caramels were the best. She loved to listen to music, especially George Gershwin, and she loved the night sky. She would make it a point to go out late at night, away from the yard lights, to look up at the sky and view whatever astronomical event that was taking place. She knew many of the constellations and also liked to use her imagination to describe the clouds in the sky and what they looked like. It’s easy to say that she was a dreamer who always wanted to live in moments of hope, steadfastness in faith and the promise of her Savior.

The devotion and tender care that Jerry gave to Audrey in her final years will remain a testament for ages to come as to what true love really is. Through the years he held her hand and never let go.

Audrey was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church south of Gruver, the church circle, and the Estherville Garden Club. She was a Cub Scout leader for many years.

Left to cherish Audrey's memory are her husband, Jerry; her son, Kevin and his wife, DeAnn and children, Nichole (Elliot) Diehm and Jeremy (Jamie) Johnson; son, David and his wife, Rebecca and children, Andrew; Olivia (Brandon); Alec and Grace; daughter, Jennifer and children, Logan, Jocelyn and Jerron; great grandchildren, Tucker and Rylee Diehm; her brother Robert (Dori) Conlee of Mountain Home, Idaho

She has been preceded in death by her parents and parents-in-law, and niece, Michelle.

Burial was at Swan Lake Cemetery, Gruver, Iowa.

(Source: Henry-Olson Funeral Home, Estherville, Iowa.)