Clifford H. JOHNSON

JOHNSON, SPARKS, BULLOCK, QUIGLEY, GIBBS, OLSON, PALMER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/9/2010 at 15:58:06

Belmond Independent, Iowa
September 25, 2002

Clifford H. Johnson, 98, of Belmond, died Monday, Sept. 23, 2002, at the Belmond Medical Center. Funeral services were held Monday, Sept. 30, at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Belmond. Pastor Rod Hopp officiated. Burial was at the St. Francis Cemetery, Belmond. Graveside military rites were conducted by the Belmond Honor Guard.

Clifford was born in Belmond June 24, 1904, the son of Benton and Hannah Olson Johnson. The family moved to a ranch near Lisbon, ND when Clifford was very young and returned to Belmond in 1910. Cliff attended country school and then Belmond public schools after moving to town. He was baptized, confirmed, and a life-long Lutheran. After high school graduation Clifford attended Coe College for one year. He returned to Belmond and worked at the American Sugar Beet Company. He moved to Torrington, WY, and was employed by the Holly Sugar Company on construction and later, on a sugar beet campaign. He returned to Belmond and entered into a partnership with George Anderson in the hatchery business. The depression caused bank failures and he lost everything. He worked for Greenlander Lumber, drove a truck, and painted. In 1928 he married Miriam Gibbs. They had one son, John David. In 1937 they went to Thermopolis, WY, for health reasons. Miriam died in 1938 and was buried in Belmond. Her sister, Aileen, went back to Wyoming with Clifford and helped care for his son. They returned to Belmond in 1939. He continued to paint and also managed the hatchery for the Farmers Elevator. Clifford enlisted in the Navy in 1942. He spent time in Newfoundland as a Petty Officer, 2nd Class in the Naval Air Force. He was supposed to be on the ship Caribou, but missed that ship, which was sunk. Clifford went to Great Britain. He was at the Royal Air Force Base in Wales then joined his own outfit in England. He was then assigned to the Naval Air Base in Gainesville, GA. After his discharge in 1945, McNeal and Hake hired Clifford as foreman for the paint crew. He later had his own business, which he continued until his retirement in 1984. Clifford married Ennis Palmer in 1946. She died in a car accident about six weeks later. On February 18, 1950, Clifford married Mary Viola Quigley. Clifford was preceded in death by his parents; two wives; and a brother, Gerhard Johnson. Survivors are his wife, Viola of Belmond; a son Jack (Beth) Johnson of Rockford, IL; three grandchildren, Kari Bullock of Denver, CO, Marc Johnson (Kari) of Roscoe, IL, and Jodi Johnson of Portland, OR; a sister-in-law, Lorraine Sparks of St. Paul, MN; and a nephew, Howard (Sandy) Johnson of Crescent, IA.