JOHNSON, Kenneth Warren (Rev.)

The White Mountain Independent, Show Low, Arizona ~ February 22, 2008 Rev. Kenneth Warren Johnson, 81, of Overgaard died Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008, at RTA Hospice in Payson. He was born March 9, 1926, at Willmar, Minn., to Alvin and Elsie Johnson. Kenneth was the oldest of six siblings and went home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, which was the desire of his heart. He worked for the Great Northern Railway in Willmar. He joined the U.S. Navy Seabees serving in World War II in the South Pacific. He was discharged in 1946. He then worked for Western Electric installing telephone equipment from 1947 to 1956. He installed the first long distance service in the United States. Kenneth began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ after attending a Billy Graham crusade in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1950. He married Dorothea Shockley Sept. 27, 1952, in Minnesota. In 1956, he enrolled at the Northern Baptist Seminary in Chicago and became an ordained minister in 1961. He served as pastor of Baptist churches in Wisconsin and Iowa. He was certified as an elementary school teacher with 35 years experience. The last years of teaching were with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Navajo reservation at Toyei Boarding School. He was a member of the Overgaard First Southern Baptist Church. He enjoyed fishing and electrical work. Kenneth is survived by his wife of 55 years, Dorothea Johnson; two children, David Lynn Johnson and Diana Faye Taylor, both of Kentucky; two sisters, Betty Harder and Gladys Laraway, both of Minnesota, and several grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, at the First Southern Baptist Church in Overgaard. Arrangements are under the direction of Black's Mortuary of Show Low. Sign an online guest book or offer private condolences at www.blacksmortuary.com.