Clarence “Ken” Johnson

Ken’s secret for a long and happy life is, “Always look for the good in people.” His kind and good-hearted outlook has made him many friends who genuinely enjoy his company, and has allowed him to overcome many obstacles. Ken grew up the third of five children on a farm on the Iron Range in rural Minnesota. His mother was of Swedish parentage, born and raised in Michigan. His father was a Swedish immigrant who first worked on the railroad, and then became an underground miner. Ken worked his way through college as his father’s partner in the mines, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering. He spent eleven years at Westinghouse Research and Development in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a Metallurgical Engineer. It was there he married his wife Shirley and started his family. Together, they raised three children: One son now in Fresno, with one daughter and two grandchildren; another son in South Carolina; and a daughter in San Diego. In 1955, he retired from Westinghouse and moved the family to Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California, where he continued his engineering career until his retirement there in 1975. Afterwards, Ken and Shirley began travel trailering around the country during the summer months. In later years, they confined their travels to the Western states and spent many happy summers in the Crescent City and June Lake, California areas, where they made friends whom they would rejoin year after year. At their desert home, Ken enjoyed golf, bowling, carpentry projects, and assisting Shirley with quilt making and gardening. Ken rose to the challenge of raising three children on a Navy base in a remote desert. He opened their eyes and made their world bigger. He took them on many camping trips, notably to Death Valley, Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks. There were also frequent weekend camping and fishing trips to the family property in Nine Mile Canyon in the southern Sierra Nevada. In addition to teaching them trout fishing, he took them to see rock formations, fossils and petroglyphs, and gazed with them through a telescope to see the stars. He made his love for his children his highest priority. Shirley had significant health problems towards the end of her life, and Ken was her devoted caretaker. They were married for almost 67 years prior to her death in 2011. In 2014, Ken moved to San Diego to be closer to his daughter. He is still going strong with his gentle spirit, good humor, easy smile, and twinkle in his eye. He now lives at Nazareth House, where he enjoys the caring atmosphere, engaging conversations with the other residents, his daily exercise program, listening to audiobooks, watching golf, and winning the occasional bingo game. Congratulations from your loving family who is so proud to have you as our wonderful father, grandfather, and greatgrandfather.