Dorothy Johnson Obituary

Dorothy Mae (Sundbom) Johnson, age 87, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 2nd at the Cornerstone Nursing and Rehab Center in Bagley, MN.
Funeral services will be held on Sunday, July 6, 2025, at The Cease Family Funeral Home Chapel of Bagley at 2:00 pm. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the services at the funeral chapel. Interment will take place at the Bagley City Cemetery immediately following the service. Everyone is welcome back to Cease Family Funeral Home for a luncheon.
Dorothy was born on February 13, 1938, to Hugo and Esther (Wold) Sundbom in Fosston, MN.
Dorothy's younger years were spent in Trail, MN, until the spring of 1948, when she was in the 4th grade. The family moved to a small farm near Leonard, MN. She had fond memories of that farm and her childhood and often shared them with others. It was in the Leonard area where she attended the little country school in Dudley Township, where she made many friends and where she met her lifelong sweetheart, Wayne Johnson. She then attended Bagley High School and started dating Wayne in the 9th grade. She graduated in 1956, and on June 9th of that same year, the sweethearts were married. Wayne and Dorothy just celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. Most of their married life, they lived on a small farm north of Shevlin until their big move to the big city of Bagley in 2018. Her last few years have been spent in The Cornerstone Nursing and Rehab Center, where she had received so much love and care. This became her home.
Dorothy was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend. She treated everyone with a smile and kindness. She had a special love of birds and knew all of her backyard birds, what they sounded like, and their nesting habits. She raised many gardens throughout her life and canned those vegetables. She enjoyed needlework, reading, and jigsaw puzzles. She raised four children (Jayne, Larry, Ruth, and Karen). After the loss of her oldest daughter in 1993, she also raised her two oldest grandchildren, Orion and Levi. Family was the most important part of her life. Visits from her children and grandchildren filled her with complete joy. She and Wayne had traveled through many states here in the US and enjoyed some international travels with her children. Dorothy was a wonderful cook and baker, and no one left her house without having a cup of coffee or a treat of some sort. Her love for the Lord showed in everything she said and did. She loved her church family and enjoyed just visiting about scriptures and things of the Lord.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Hugo and Esther Sundbom; a daughter, Jayne (Johnson) Gray; a sister-in-law, Rachel Lehman; a niece, Ginetta (Larson) Bergeson; and a nephew, Keith Larson.
She is survived by her husband, Wayne Johnson of 69 years; her son, Larry (Karen) Johnson of Bagley, MN; her daughter, Ruth (Bruce) Anspach of Bemidji, MN; her daughter, Karen (Scott) Stish of Solway, MN. Her grandchildren: Orion (Janelle) Gray of Roseville, MN; Levi (Leah) Gray of Bagley, MN; Casey (Dan) Kurth of Flagstaff, AZ; Alex (Ashley) Gray of Duluth, MN; Jessie (Joe) Allen of Niceville, FL; Gabriel Johnson of Detroit Lakes, MN; Marshal (Bridget) Johnson of Duluth, MN; Samuel (Fiancé Claire) Stish of Bagley, MN; and Anna Stish of Solway, MN. Along with her great-grandchildren, Dylan, William and Ethan Gray of Bagley, MN. One Sister, Elaine (George) Larson of Bagley, MN. She is also survived by two nieces, three nephews.