Please click on the tribute video below to view Karen's memorial service.

Karen S. Johnson, 95, of Fertile, MN, passed away peacefully with family by her side at Fair Meadow Nursing Home in Fertile on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Karen (Sandberg) Johnson was born June 11, 1924, to William and Margaret (Imsdahl) Sandberg. She was born on a farm about eight miles east of Fertile, MN, and grew up in the areas of Rindal and Woodside Townships, attending 3 different country schools before attending high school in Fertile, graduating in 1942.

Karen was confirmed at Faaberg Lutheran Church in Rindal, MN. After graduating high school, she traveled by train to Vancouver, WA, to work in a store owned by her aunt and uncle. She sold groceries and pumped gas during the year and half that she worked there. In the spring of 1944, she moved back to Minnesota and that fall went to Minneapolis to enter nurses training at the University of Minnesota as part of the new federal Nurse Cadet Corp. This program was to encourage women to become nurses because of the shortage during the war. There were 300 students in her first quarter which required them to take 21 credits. At the end of the quarter when grades came out, there were 150 left! Karen worked hard and was one of only 7 who finished the program becoming a registered nurse.

Karen married Norris Johnson on September 22, 1946, at Concordia Lutheran Church and moved to Spokane, WA, where Norris was in the Army Air Corp. They moved back to Fertile in 1948, and eventually Norris bought the Culligan business and they began their family.

Seven Johnson children were born over the next 12 1/2 years. They made life very interesting over the next 33 years until they had all graduated from Fertile High School.

Over the years Karen continued her education to maintain her nursing license and many of Fertile's children came to her home for allergy shots. She also substituted for the F-B School nurse and audited charts at Fair Meadow Nursing Home. Karen had a garden as well as flowers in the yard. She taught the girls to sew, made the family's bread, and was very good at assigning household chores. Knitting was a favorite activity of Karen's. She made sweaters for all of her grandchildren and for most of her great-grandchildren. She also loved bird-watching and helped with the local bird counts several times. Karen had a deep and living faith in her Savior, Jesus Christ. She was active in church throughout her life, and found great joy in teaching and participating in small group bible studies, and sharing her faith with family, friends, and anyone else in need. She leaves a great legacy of faith that is living and growing in the lives of those she touched. Her last and greatest wish was simply to go home to Jesus.

Karen is survived by her sister, Joyce Downs, Fertile, MN; children, Earl (Dorothy) Johnson of Detroit Lakes, MN, Sue Jacobson of Fertile, MN, Peggy (Donald) Gallagher of Crookston, MN, Alan Johnson of Fertile, MN, Heidi (Kent) Malone of Metamora, IL, Mark (Debbie) Johnson of Chisago City, MN, and Sarah (Richard) Anderson of Snohomish, WA; sixteen grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; twenty-two great-grandchildren; and eleven step-great-grandchildren. Karen is preceded in death by her parents, William and Margaret (Imsdahl) Sandburg; husband, Norris Johnson; sisters, Mona Erickson and Patricia Schuman; brothers-in-law, Merlin Schuman, Daniel Downs and Howard Erickson; sons-in-law, Gary Carlson and David Jacobson; and two infant grandsons.

Memorial Service: 11:00 AM, Saturday, July 11, 2020, at Hope Evangelical Free Church in Fertile, MN, following all of the Minnesota and CDC COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. All are encouraged to wear a mask.