Donald Kenneth Johnson (Ken to family and DK to public) was born in Sidney on March 21, 1922 to John W. and Alma (Miller) Johnson. He grew up on his parent’s farm in the Brorson Community. He went to school at Brorson School for 8 years. The family then moved to Edmonds WA in 1936 where he went to High School for 2 years, then returning back to Sidney to see clouds of grasshoppers and totally destroyed fields. He returned to Seattle in the fall and stayed with an aunt for his junior year, then returned back to Sidney where he graduated from high school in 1940. He helped his dad farm and worked at various other jobs including in the navy yard at Bremerton WA. He enlisted in the Navy in Sept of 1942 for 3 years, 2 of which were in the North Pacific Aleutian Islands area. After his discharge in Dec of 1945 he returned to the Sidney farm. He and Velma Cooper were married in 1952 and have 2 children, Jacqueline and Philip. He and Velma farmed and raised livestock until semi-retirement and moved to town in 1987. He was a member of the Ebenezer Congregational Church, VFW, several farm organizations and the Republican Party. He received Jesus as his Savior in 1952 and is in Heaven with Him today.
Donald “DK” died on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at the Sidney Health Center in Sidney, MT.
Survivors include: his wife, Velma Johnson; daughter, Jacqueline Deitsch of Staton, ND; son, Philip (Robyn) Johnson of Sidney; grandchildren, Melissa (Greg) Kozma, Jessica (Frank) Keele, Derek Deitsch, Erica Deitsch, Jesse (Jenni) Johnson, Kaite (Jeremy) Geyer, Matthew Johnson, Daniel Johnson, Trever Suko, Scott Suko; great grandchildren, Jasmine Dangerfield, Tomas Deitsch, Samantha Deitsch, Greg Jr Kozma, Asher Kozma, Carsen Geyer and Jack Johnson; sister-in-law, Evelyn White; nieces and nephews, Susan (Roger) Milstein, William Davis Jr., Laurie Martin, Alan (Lynette) Johnson, Bryan Johnson, and Carolyn (Dave) Callow.
Preceded him in death are his parents, John and Alma Johnson, brother, Harland Johnson; sisters, Margaret Johnson, Marjorie Allison, Irene Davis, brother-in-law, William Davis, father and mother in-law, Perle and Irene Cooper; brother in-law, Lloyd Cooper; sister in-law, Winona Cooper; cousin, Leslie Winter and great grandson, Noah Deitsch.