Obituary of Donna Peterson Johnson

Donna Mae (Peterson) Johnson was born to Dora Alvina (Jetson) and Terence Philip Peterson in Faribault, MN August 24, 1937. She was the granddaughter of John Peterson, who founded Faribault’s Peterson Art Furniture in 1905. She passed away peacefully on June 14, 2020 at the Waters on 50th in Minneapolis, MN. She is survived by daughter Pamela Jo Johnson, son Greg Johnson, grandson Trudell Sage Dunkley-Johnson, former spouse Charles Johnson, sister Lynn Tieman, nephew Russ (Ann) Tieman, niece Joan (Brad) Hablutzel, and five grand-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Donna graduated from Faribault High School in 1955. She earned a BA in sociology from the University of Utah, where she established the Utah Chapter of the Phi Mu sorority, and a Master of Library Science from Case Western Reserve University. In 1970, Donna was hired as Chief Librarian at Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, which later became Abbott Northwestern, the flagship hospital at Allina Health system where she retired as Director of Library and Media Services in 2002. She was nationally renowned as an innovative thinker in hospital libraries and was awarded several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for improving hospital library services. She also served on the NIH Biomedical Library Review committee for many years. In 1997, Donna earned the prestigious Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award for outstanding outreach librarians serving rural or underserved populations.

Donna lived in Hopkins, MN for most of her adult life (1974 - 2014) where after retirement she volunteered with the Friends of the Hopkins Library also serving as President. In 2014, she moved to assisted living at the Waters and to memory care in 2017. Donna loved reading, working on genealogy, and cheering on the MN Vikings football team. She also loved singing and was known by many residents at the Waters for her lovely voice. Donna had a special bond with her only grandson. She attended every one of his football games through his school years, supported his pursuit of music, and listened to rap music with him every time they were in the car together.

We will not be having a memorial service at this time. However, we will be posting a memorial video celebration of her life that you will be able to link to from this site.

Donna will be interred at Maple Lawn Cemetery in Faribault, where her grandparents John and Grace (Goodwin) Peterson are buried.

Memorials in memory of Donna P. Johnson to the Alzheimer’s Association alz.org in lieu of flowers.