Donald D. Johnson

Donald D. Johnson, age 82, of Ottawa, KS, passed away to his heavenly home on May 7th at his home after a battle with cancer. Family will meet with friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, May 13, 2022, at Dengel & Son Mortuary, Ottawa. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 14th at Dengel & Son Mortuary, Ottawa. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery, Pomona. Don was born October 8, 1939, in Ottawa, KS, the son of Marvin and Bessie (Hogle) Johnson. He graduated from Ottawa High School with the class of 1957. He continued his education at Ottawa University where he met his wife Nancy (Cowles) Johnson. Don said that Nancy is the best thing he received from college. Nancy and Don married November 13, 1960, in Omaha and moved one year later to the family farm in rural Ottawa. They moved into the farm house that Don grew up in which was built around the early 1900’s. When Don and Nancy moved to the family farm, they renovated and added the first indoor bathroom to the farm house. The old outhouse stood for many years next to Nancy’s apple trees in the back yard. Don loved the farm, especially being out on a tractor working the fields and watching the crops grow. He was very handy, always repairing machinery, many times using some scrap of metal from a discard pile to fix something. He took the family farm of 76 acres and slowly built it up to almost 600 acres, raising mostly corn, soybeans, and wheat. For many years, he also bred and raised hogs. Don always told visitors that the offensive pig odor was “the smell of money.” He had a faithful collie that “herded” the pigs and kept him safe. He always had a love for dogs and cats, taking in many strays that just wandered in to the farm. Don was a shareholder in the Ottawa Coop Association since 1963. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Coop in 1996 and served for 9 years. Don was also a Gideon and on the Franklin County Board of Zoning. In January 2016, he received the Franklin County Conservation District award for outstanding progress in the area of soil and water conservation. Don enjoyed hunting, fishing, collecting guns, and being with his family. One of his favorite activities was to target shoot in the back field with his grandsons while teaching them about gun safety and cleaning. He never could catch any fish when fishing with the grandchildren because he spent all his time baiting hooks for the kids. He was a Christian and former member of Calvary Baptist Church where he faithfully attended for many years. Don was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Johnson, brother, Wayne Johnson, parents, Marvin and Bessie Johnson, and first granddaughter, Courtney Ray Anderson. Survivors include three children, Tim (Jilana) Johnson of Bentonville, AR, Susan Frank of Palatka, FL, Cathleen (Jeremy) Anderson of Overland Park; and seven grandchildren, Tyler Johnson, Jonathan Frank, Derek Frank, Sydney Anderson, Victoria Anderson, Kelsey Anderson, Kaitlyn Anderson, and brother-in-law Rod Cowles (Shine). In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to Phoenix Home Care & Hospice and Gideon’s c/o Dengel & Son Mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa, KS 66067.