John Allen JOHNSON

JOHNSON, TRUEBLOOD, FOSEN, FOSTER, MACE, VOSSBERG, HESTAD, ROBERTS, WARD, DETERMAN, FOLLOWWILL, PARCHER, PHILIP, GIFFORD, BELDEN, JAHN, HILL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/10/2009 at 08:56:42

BRITT - John Allen Johnson, 83, of Kanawha passed away Tuesday (May 26, 2009) at Hospice of North Iowa in Mason City. Funeral services for John A. Johnson will be held 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 28, at Kanawha Lutheran Church with Pastor Lee Nelson officiating. Burial will be in Amsterdam Township Cemetery near Kanawha. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. today, Wednesday, May 27, at the Ewing Funeral Home, 118 E. Second St. in Kanawha, and continue one hour prior to services at the church.

John A. Johnson, the son of Alvin L. and Mary (Trueblood) Johnson, was born Nov. 14, 1925, on the family farm near Kanawha. He attended country grade school and began high school in Kanawha. He then moved to Britt where he graduated from Britt High School in 1943. The family moved to the Kirkberg Farm at Denhart in 1943. At that time John joined his father and brothers in the farming operation. John was united in marriage with Eva Loraine Fosen Foster on April 18, 1948, at Kanawha Lutheran Church, the couple made their home on the farm near Denhart. John was a full fledged farmer, he operated a corn shelling and trucking business for 49 years, was seed salesman for Berry Seeds - John was a "Cattleman." His father, Alvin, brother, Babe, and John would make trips to the west to buy their cattle. "They liked good cattle" they especially liked Black Angus and Hereford. When the cattle were ready for market off to the Chicago Stockyards they would go. One year Alvin and his sons topped the market several times. His grandson, Jake Johnson, the son of David, is carrying on the family tradition. John was a good father and provider, as he told Rick when he wanted his first car, "You'll always get what you need but not always what you want." John showed a "quiet faith" by the way he lived, the way he farmed and with his family. John enjoyed fishing and taking trips to Lake Winnibigoshish, Minn., with Eva, then with Rick, David, Tim and their grandsons and Jeff Determan. Ask his children about the Minnesota Radio Station, the minute he hit the car on came the polkas. John and Eva had many trips to Texas and they enjoyed dancing to the big bands and polkas at the Surf and Duncan. They have had the Johnson Escape for 40 years at Clear Lake where they have had many happy hours with all the families, boating, fishing, skiing and just being together for family fun.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife Eva; son, Rick (Judy) Johnson of Garner and their family, Steve (Shelly) Mace, Cody and Cassidy Mace, Taylor and Jordan Vossberg, Cindy (Kevin) Hestad, Sophia and Emma, Chad Johnson, Chet and Luke, Corey (Dena) Johnson, Seth, Claire and Lindsey, Jessica Sue (Craig) Roberts, Clayton, Connor, Madeline and Isabella; son, David (Jackie) Johnson of Kanawha and their families, Josh (Michelle) Johnson, Matthew and McKenna Ward and David Joshua Johnson, Jake (Paige) Johnson and Jenna; son Tim Johnson of Kanawha; daughter, Lisa Determan (Gary Followwill) of Mason City and children Kiya and Machaela Determan and Zuly Parcher; sister-in-law, Janice Philip; brother-in-law Donald Gifford; sister-in-law Wanda (Richard) Belden; special cousin Mary Ellen Jahn; numerous other nieces, nephews and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Alvin B. "Babe" and Loren E. "Fatty"; sister, Shirley Gifford; granddaughter, Jody Mace; nephew, Gary Johnson; father and mother-in-law, Knute and Clara B. Fosen; and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Audrey and Harold Hill. Ewing Funeral Home.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
May 27, 2009