Obituary of Katherine Lee Johnson

 

Katherine Lee Johnson, 67 of Richfield, Minnesota died at home on February 9, 2022. She transitioned peacefully from the arms of her beloved husband Tim Johnson to the arms of her Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Born in Bemidji and raised in northern Minnesota along with her siblings, Kathy developed a core value of generosity. She met Tim in 1971, they married in April 1972 and moved to Minneapolis. The following year they became parents with the birth of their son Travis and as foster parents in Hennepin County.  Five years later, she gave birth to a second son, Paul. 

To Kathy, mothering was a gift she purposefully and abundantly gave to many children, teens, and young adults throughout her lifetime. Her life mantra “love people over everything else” was fueled by the grace and love she experienced through her personal relationship with Jesus that began early in her marriage. 

In the mid 70s to late 80s Kathy and Tim served as Youth Pastors at Bethel Assembly of God Church (now Bethel’s Rock). Kathy was fully invested in nurturing and developing each young person who attended. For many she became a second mother and her home became their second home. She was the first to offer a hot meal, a place to stay, a listening heart, and handfuls of prayer. Kathy also wrote, directed, designed sets, and performed alongside the youth in five full length Easter and Christmas productions. 

Her service at Bethel continued for decades as a Sunday school teacher, nursery helper, Bible study leader, life group leader, choir and worship team member, matchmaker, and in prayer ministry. When the doors of the church were open, Kathy and Tim were there, ready to serve in any capacity, often with her legendary homemade desserts and his savory cooking in hand. 

Kathy’s passion for loving people with the heart of Jesus propelled her to recognize earthly barriers that had the potential of limiting the church’s ability to reach the community for Christ, locally and globally. She was unafraid to challenge the norms, ask tough questions, seek justice, and persist through prayer and intercession.

As Travis and Paul became young teens, Kathy’s motherhood expanded to focus on being a home for her children’s friends. Soon Peter and Noland came to live with them. These two would be the first of many young men and women whom Kathy welcomed into her home and her heart as a core member of the family. This remained true even on the day of her death.

For Kathy the kitchen table was sacred space. It was the place where she nourished growing bodies through home cooked meals and sticky desserts. Where she nourished fragile and hardened hearts through laughter, listening, and prayer. 

While raising four teen boys and serving extensively at church alongside Tim, Kathy made the bold decision to go back to school to become a registered nurse. In the 14 years she served as a geratirc nurse, her most prized accomplishment was pioneering an assisted living program for Russian immigrant seniors at Menorah Senior Apartments that provided quality culturally - centered care for the residents.Through her leadership Kathy brought together the first ever collaboration to create HUD-supported senior housing in partnership with a privately owned building and Department of Health supported onsite health services. This program has since become a blueprint for assisted living programs in MN.

At the height of her nursing career Kathy was diagnosed with Lupus. This caused a significant shift in Kathy’s life as her growing medical needs quickly limited her abilities to be involved with her community. Soon after the birth of her first granddaughter Emma, Kathy was given a prognosis of six months to live while tethered to oxygen by day and bipap by night. 

The combination of Kathy’s persistence, Tim’s exquisite care, oceans of prayer, and the Lord’s perfect timing with the availability of a newly FDA approved medication, Kathy outlived her prognosis by 26 years. She endured a rigorous medical and emotional journey along the way.

Kathy didn’t just live long enough to see the birth of her second granddaughter Grace, she also became a grandmother many times over as the young people she mothered grew up, married, and became parents.

Five years beyond her terminal prognosis, Kathy and Tim began a second chapter of parenting after the death of their daughter-in-law Tracie, when their son Travis and his two young daughters Emma 6 and Grace not yet 3, came to live with them. Kathy’s mission in life, in spite of her growing medical challenges, was to love, nurture and grow these girls (and their friends) through high school. And she did. In the last nine months of her life, Kathy also experienced the joys of being a great grandmother.

Over her lifetime, Kathy also cared for God’s creation through a love of gardening and pets; birds, cats, dogs, chickens, squirrels and bunnies too numerous to name. She savored opportunities to be near big water, from Lake Superior, to the Mississippi River, to the Gulf of Mexico along the Florida coast. 

Married to Tim for 50 years (April 2022) her passion as his bride was bold, mature, and committed. As their children got older they enjoyed many second honeymoons on the beaches of Florida. Kathy was known to be persistent with her love, consistent in her character, unexpected in her humor, dedicated in her relationships, and generous with her resources. 

She is preceded in death by her grandparents, parents, brother in law Rick, son Travis, daughter in law Tracie, and grandson Levi. She is survived in death by her husband and his extended families, siblings and their extended families, children and their spouses, grandchildren, grandpets, great-grandson, and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Gifts in honor of Kathy Johnson’s life can be sent to Tim Johnson.