Eugene Dwight Johnson, St. Joseph, Mo., died July 5, 2021, at Mosaic Medical Center. He was 83.
Gene and his wife, Joy (Burch) Johnson, were together 65 years. They were married June 2, 1957, in Superior, and they had just celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary.
Johnson was a coach and teacher for 41 years. He coached and taught business, typing and physical education at Esbon (Kan.) High School from 1959-60 to 1962-63, at Republic (Kan.) High School from 1963-64 to 1965-66, at Lebanon (Kan.) High School from 1966-67 to 1980-81, and at Hillcrest High and Junior High School, Cuba, Kan., from 1981-82 to 2001-02.
Through four decades, he coached basketball, track, cross country and football, and his high-school boys basketball teams were consistent contenders. His Lebanon teams won a string of Pike Trail League and district championships. They were Kansas class 1A state champions in 1977 and runners up in 1973. His Republic boys track team won the state indoor title in 1965. He was a member of Kansas National Education Association, and he was honored by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
On weekends and summers, he and his family farmed and irrigated corn, soybeans and milo in Republic and Jewell counties in Kansas, near Republic, Courtland and Lovewell. In retirement, Gene and Joy were campsite hosts for seven seasons at Lovewell (Kan.) State Park, in northeast Jewell County, and they lived in Superior, Neb., before moving to St. Joseph. In Superior, he was a deacon at the First Baptist Church.
An avid fan of University of Kansas basketball and University of Nebraska football, he attended his first KU game at Allen Fieldhouse with his grandsons when he was 80. In retirement, he grew tomatoes and shared hundreds of them with neighbors, friends and new acquaintances.
He was born in rural Cloud County, Kansas, near Sulphur Springs, on Nov. 11, 1937. His parents, Harold and Mary Johnson, were also teachers and farmers, and Gene attended schools in Harlan, Scottsville, Ionia and Lovewell, Kan., with summers on farms near Miltonvale and Courtland, Kan. He graduated from Lovewell High School in 1955, Fairbury (Neb.) Junior College in 1957 and McPherson (Kan.) College in 1959.
He was preceded in death by his father, Harold Johnson, in 1981, and mother, Mary (Ming) Johnson, in 1995, rural Courtland, Kan.; his brother, Marion, Belleville, Kan., in 2019; and an infant son, Bradley, in 1959.
Johnson is survived by his wife, Joy; son, Ron (Barry Hall), and daughter, Cyndi (John DeBey), rural St. Joseph; by grandchildren Nate, Nick and Greg Johnson and Andrew (Randi) and Amanda DeBey; by great-grandchildren Samantha and Gage DeBey; by sister-in-law Kathy (Konovalsky) Johnson, Belleville, and nephews Bryan and Whitney (Shelley).
Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 17, in Evergreen Cemetery, Superior, Neb., followed by a reception at the Vestey Center, downtown Superior. Pastor Deb Hadachek, Cuba, Kan., will officiate the service. Services under the direction of Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory.
The family encourages memorials be designated to the Lovewell Lake Church, the limestone chapel at the state park, care of Price Funeral Home, P.O. Box 282, Superior, NE 68978.
