Garland "Johnnie" L. Johnson
July 4, 1920 - May 5, 2002
Garland L. “Johnnie” Johnson, age 81 of Melrose, died on Sunday, May 5 2002 at the Melrose Area Hospital. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Melrose. Rev. Vincent Lieser will officiate with interment following in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery, Little Falls.
Friends may call at the church in Melrose one hour
prior to the service on Wednesday. Arrangements were made with Patton-Schad
Funeral Service of Melrose.
Garland Johnson was born on July 4, 1920 in Larimore,
North Dakota to Ole and Constance (Kirkedahl) Johnson. He served in the U.S.
Army during World War II. He was united in marriage to Rosemary Hartmann on
August 7, 1947 at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Melrose. He was employed by
the Great Northern Railroad in Evansville, Grand Forks, North Dakota,
Alexandria, Melrose and St. Cloud. He retired after 38 years of service to the
Great Northern and Burlington Northern Railroad. He and Rosemary also owned and
operated The Garland, a ladies clothing store in Melrose, from 1958 to 1986. For
the past 36 years, he also owned and operated Johnnie’s Specialties in
Melrose.
He was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church,
American Legion Post 101, Schanhaar-Otte VFW Post 7050 and Melrose Chamber of
Commerce. He was a past commander of the 6th District of VFW. Garland
founded the Boy Scout troop in Melrose and had served as scoutmaster in Melrose
and previously in Alexandria. He was a long-time volunteer for Mel TV and
especially liked to tape the Mass. He was also involved in the planning of the
Melrose City Center and the Senior Citizens Center.
Survivors include his wife, Rosemary Johnson of Melrose; three children, John Johnson (Janice) and Michael Johnson (Kathleen), both of Salt Lake City, Utah, Christine Barron (Doug) of Northfield; nine grandchildren; five great grandchildren; one sister, Byrne Forsberg-Restin of St. Simons Island, Georgia. He was preceded in death by his parents and daughter, Bernadette Moore.
Serving as casket bearers will be Clarence Gerads, Roger Paschke, Salvador Garcia, Jeff Elfering, Bob Pappenfus and Ervin Bueckers. Serving as cross bearer will be Douglas Barron and scripture bearer will be Kristina Barron. Honorary bearers will be Urb Schulzetenberg, Cletus Scherer, Royal Carr, Kennie Hinnenkamp, George O’Brien and Earl Bushman.
Serving as gift bearers will be Michael Johnson, Nicole Kleeberger and Amelia Carr and the reader will be Mike Johnson Sr.