Edward A.R. Johnson

Edward Alvin Raymond Johnson was born to Reiel and Alida (Ellefson) Johnson on July 14, 1914 in the town of Kroschel, Minnesota. He was the youngest of ten children. Ed was baptized in a local Norwegian Lutheran church on Septmeber 26, 1914. He was confirmed in the Trinity Evangelist Lutheran Church on May 31, 1931. Ed attended school until the eighth grade. He was self taught on the accordion. At age 18 or so, he played in bands locally on Friday and Saturday nights at the dance halls. Later, he played at different locations in Minneapolis. July 1, 1936, at the age of twenty-one, he was married to Phyllis Gilliver, who was to be the mother of his five children. In the early married years, he rented his fathers farm. He would help his neighbors out by plowing their fields with a team of horses. For payment, one nieghbor traded him a calf to raise. Money was scarce. Edward was a hard worker all his life. Most of his wor history consisted of self-created businesses. He wouldalways come up with an idea of how to earn money. When the war was going onin 1944, he would plow and drag fields for the neighbors. He also dug several basements at $1.25 an hour with a tractor and a scoop. During these early years, he used his innovations and tore down one half of his old big house in Sandstone, where he lived. He then used the lumber to build brooder houses, getting from $60.00 to $135.00 each. He used the money to pay off his mortgage on a 60 acre farm. The mortgage was for 5 years - he paid it off in 3 1/2 years. After moving to Forest Lake in 1947, he worked at the Erickson Gas Station. He proceeded to build a house in town on Broadway Street. At the same time, he also built a cabin on Second Lake in Forest Lake. Somewhere during this time, he hired out as a house painter. When he left the gas station, he went to work at the Arsenal Plant. This didnt last too long and eventually he started a tree business. With the help of his eldest son, Marty, he would dig and load trees from local forest areas, and travel to the Twin Cities to sell them to private home owners, going door to door. Eventually, he sold picup loads of trees to the various nurseries. They would dig about 100 trees to a pickup load. As time went on, he bought a house in town for his mother. He fixed it up for her and cut and carried in wood for her stove. An opportunity arose next door to her, when the lot went up for sale; he purchased it and built a flat roofed one story house. Edward was divorced about 1958 and he moved to Cambridge, MN. He met a lady from Minneapolis and had a long distance romance for 20 years. Their favorite pastime was dancing. Almost every weekend, they would go where the dancing was. They were good partners on the floor and were selected as winners in the Minneapolis Aquatennial Dance Contest, receiving a certified certificate from the judges for the Schottage Dance. In 1986, he wrote a letter to Dave Moore, a famous newsman on WCCO, Channel 4. Sometime later, Dave Moore wrote a book and put a copy of Edwards letter in his book. Mr. Moore sent an autographed copy of the book to Edwards home. He had told Dave that he was 72 years old and still dancing (Although that was remarkable age to still be dancing, he actually continued to do so until age 89.) During his later years he moved back to Forest Lake. He had a house built in town and before long, he had started another work venture -- he built and sold garden arbors. When he could take a break from that, he was off to Hinkley Casino because gambling was his passion. He did a lot of flower gardening. Every square foot of yard had some kind of flower, plant or tree on it. He gardened even in the last year of his life. Edward always wanted to look good, so he tanned every summer either on his deck or at the tanning parlor. He tanned up to the age of 92. Quite remarkable. He didnt want to end life. He always said he could not die now because he still had too much work to do. THe work was never completed in his mind, but maybe God has work that Edward can help Him with. When his health started to decline in the last couple years, he made many trips to the Wyoming hospital and also the doctors clinic. He became the darling of the nurses and aides -- they sincerely enjoyed him. The same held true at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy. Each pharmacy techician would come out from behind the counter to give him a hug when he was still able to pick up his medicine himself. His last days were hard for him. He couldnt drive anymore and he was limited with his ability to move around much. But he moved his garden to pot containers on the deck and he still tanned. Bless his soul. A friend once said There is black and there is white and then there is pistacio, which is Edward! -- one of a kind! He wanted to live till Christmas, which he succeeded in doing. He will be missed by family and friends.