Margaret Ann Johnson

Margaret Ann Johnson slipped from this world to the next surrounded by her beloved family on June 9, 2023. Margaret was a force of nature who fought for the needs and rights of so many. Her family is still trying to understand how she could truly be gone. Margaret was born the third child to Lily Minetta Nelson Dahlgren and the Rev. John Elmer Dahlgren. As a child she played piano and organ on her dad’s rural church route, in both English and Swedish. She used that to put herself through high school and college playing piano and organ in churches and mortuaries. (And to later try out every organ she found at every mall, initially scaring the salesmen by “borrowing” the instrument in their store, and then drawing such a crowd with the joy she shared in moving from one song to another that they would offer her a job- which she would laugh off as she gathered up her three girls to continue her day.) After college at Cal State Fresno and a year at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, she moved to San Francisco, a city she loved. Working in corporate offices and commuting by trolley and bus delighted her. She left to take a position organizing Lutheran churches across the state. She literally walked every block of such communities as San Pablo to the north and San Diego to the south. Establishing Lutheran Church of the Cross in Arlington brought her to Riverside, when she was also working in migrant ministry. Here she met her roommate’s date, Harry William Johnson, Jr. She and her roommate traded beaus and the rest is history Margaret and Harry married August 12, 1957, at Eden Lutheran Church in Riverside, with her dad officiating. Margaret’s parents and her cat Prissy joined Margaret and Harry on their honeymoon. They moved their growing family to First Congregational Church several years later and raised their children at FCC. Margaret joined the other young wives at UCR in helping outfit labs with trips to the WWII supply depot in LA, bringing back chemistry lab gear in her car, then washing them up after labs. Margaret was classified by the IRS as a homemaker. Evidently, they do not have “Force of Nature” on their list of professions. She had three girls: Anne, Jill, and Gail. She also cared for Harry’s mom, Effie, who had Alzheimer’s Disease while the girls were in elementary school. She drove through a blizzard to bring her parents from Iowa to California, settling them in Hemet, and setting up Sunday suppers in Hemet for the next decade, a tradition the girls and their cousins were glad to see come to an end, especially with Lily’s cooking. In her spare time Margaret accompanied every choir at Highland Elementary School, University Heights Middle School, and North High School. She led Camp Fire troops for all three girls and became a trainer for other leaders and a member of the local council Margaret was the accompanist for the Bicentennial Chorus for Camp Fire. Margaret was herself a Camp Fire Girl, as was her mom. When Margaret first moved to the UCR neighborhood with Harry there were no stop signs, and several children were hit by cars with no traffic controls. Margaret gathered the local moms, the Yuban cans, and some Plaster of Paris, and suddenly there were stop signs at several corners that appeared each day before and after school! Permanent stop signs were posted throughout the development after Margaret and other moms organized their 27 children from Margaret’s block to attend a City Council meeting. She was a PTA member, a PTA volunteer coordinator, and the PTA Park Development Chairperson, ultimately helping to plant the trees and set up the playgrounds at Highland Park. She was involved in the RUSD establishing education for students in reproductive health. Margaret was organizing tutoring at Highland School when she became aware of food insufficiency in the school community. Working first with Catholic Charities and then with Lutheran Social Services, Margaret helped to establish the first food bank in Riverside. Hearing domestic violence stories at the food bank, Margaret worked with Lutheran Social Services to establish the first domestic violence shelter in Riverside, the I-Care Shelter Home. Margaret also wrote and edited study guides for a domestic violence movie created by Lutheran Family Films, called “The Captive Wife” long before domestic violence was a subject of film or TV. After being awarded a $250,000 grant, the I-Care Home was moved and expanded to become the first “housing first”-style program in Riverside County. While the campus was being built, she arranged to house guests at The Farmhouse Motel, cooking dinner for everybody in her own kitchen and driving it down to the motel each night. As a caregiver for her mother-in-law and her own parents, Margaret came face to face with the human cost of caregiving and the need for respite care. From that came a collaboration with likeminded Riversiders and the founding of Cooper-Burkhardt House, which is now known as Care Connexus, the largest adult day care program in our county. She was invited to sit on the Governor’s Select Committee on Aging, a statewide body. For this she was honored by the California State Legislature in 1996. Margaret was never one to boast about her work or accomplishments, putting others first for recognition. She was selected to be an Olympic torch bearer for the Atlanta Olympics because of her volunteer work. She was honored by the Soroptimist Club and many other local organizations. Her kids remember telling friends at church that their mom was in jail or at AA meetings – without including that she was out providing volunteer services in those locations. Margaret was especially proud to discover that she had an FBI file for writing to then-Governor Reagan about the slashing of the education budgets and funding for inpatient mental health care. Margaret never shied away from expressing an educated opinion. Margaret and Harry traveled the country in their 1970 F150 with the camper on the back, girls in tow. They saw virtually every National Park and stopped at every historic marker. If a teacher asked the girls about a historic site, there was every chance they’d been there and been told the history. That helped Margaret later when traveling with her grandchildren to UCC youth gatherings, where she managed to tell them every last bit of historical trivia about every road they took. Margaret and Harry together faced his diagnosis of Inclusion Body Myositis, and she became his caregiver as he battled the effects of the disease, eventually becoming the longest known surviving patient before he succumbed to it in 2007 at the age of 80. They adapted their travel and kept going, exploring bird sites, rockhounding, visiting their grandsons, and seeing old friends and family. After Harry’s death, Margaret traded in the disability-equipped van for a sporty hatchback, and she and her bff Iris Starkey hit the road, traveling the entire country wearing their “Thelma and Louise“ hats. They have been spotted in Instagram and FB posing with complete strangers from casinos with early bird specials to the Space Needle, the St. Louis Arch, family reunions to New Orleans. Margaret lovingly threw herself into the whirlwind of her grandchildren, being present for each child as they came into the family, welcoming them with open arms. For her local granddaughters, she was an ever-present force, and she reached across the miles to her grandchildren whenever she could. She was the Grammy who helped get her girls to school, often incurring tardy notices after taking her first-grade granddaughters out for coffee. For all of them. Margaret’s love for children extended beyond her own daughters and grandchildren. Her home was a haven for an assortment of young people who needed a safe place to land, and eventually launch. She made sure the students in her daughter’s classroom had Christmas presents and backpacks filled with needed supplies. As Margaret faced the oncoming impact of dementia in her own life, she formed a bond with her oldest granddaughter, Kerry, who became her companion. Raising a grammy is not easy, but Kerry managed to get her walker in front of her most of the time, and to tell on Nana when necessary. Margaret was predeceased by her parents, Elmer and Lily Dahlgren, her mother and father-in-law, Harry and Effie Johnson, and her beloved husband Harry. She is survived by her daughters Anne Johnston (Robert), Jill Johnson-Young (Stacie Reedy), and Gail MacMillan (Kevin). They will do their best to carry on the fervor and compassion their mom modeled and expected of those around her. She is also survived by her grandchildren Sandy (Gabriella), Isaac (Shira), Kerry (Grandma’s most extraordinary companion and carer), Charity (Xavier), Chloe (Peter), Linnea (The only child who inherited the math and science genes of her grandparents), and Natalie (best cat parent ever!). She will be missed as part of growing up by her great grandchildren Michael, Ezekiel, Riley Rose, and, coming in October, Oliver. Her sisters Ruth Howell, Kay (Clint) Kersten will miss their sister adventures together, and she will be missed by her brother, Gene Dahlgren (Jayne), her nieces and nephews Kelly (Jenn) Kersten and Kristi Kersten Tenborg, Carol Dutcher (Neal), and Steve Howell. Services will be held at First Congregational Church in Riverside at 11 a.m. June 29, with a reception to follow at church. Internment at Riverside National Cemetery for both Harry and Margaret will be at 10:15 a.m. June 30. Memorial donations may be made to FCC Riverside or Project Food at FCC. Or do something kind for a student or your local school, a person who is unhoused, or a rescue shelter. Tell them Margaret sent you and share a smile. And, as everyone who has ever ended a call with Margaret will remember, be sure to say, “Here’s a hug.”

Margaret Ann Johnson

December 31, 1936 - June 9, 2023