Obituary of Arnie Ragnar Johnson

Please click here to view the livestream of the service

November 13, 1931 - May 24, 2021

Arnie Johnson passed away peacefully on May 24, 2021, with his beloved Mary at his side. Arnie was born 89 years ago in Tantallon SK, in the heart of the Qu’Appelle Valley. Arnie spent his childhood in Tantallon and at age ten the family moved to the farm.

In his youth, Arnie learned carpentry by working with his father to build Memorial skating rinks throughout southern Saskatchewan. Arnie remarked that sometimes it was a little awkward when this young guy was to be the “foreman” to a group of much older men.

In 1953, Arnie met Mary while working near Meacham with the Dept. of Highways on a survey crew, and they were married in 1954. In 1955, he became a father to daughter Lydia and started a new career as an Aerial Photo Interpreter - first for the Department of Agriculture and then for SaskWater.  On their 17^th wedding anniversary, Arnie and Mary welcomed their second daughter Kathy, and in 1987 after 35 years of service with the government, he took early retirement. Arnie was never one to enjoy sitting around, so he went back to working with his hands doing building maintenance and various carpentry jobs. He then showed his great gift of patience and generosity of time by mentoring his son-in-law - first in building maintenance, and then in carpentry, by building decks and fences. In 1997, they completed over 500 decks for one client alone!  In 1998, he retired again, and spent much of his time with such hobbies as woodworking, quilt-sewing and upholstery. His talent with upholstery was evident in the numerous and diverse projects obtained solely by referrals from a very happy clientele.

 Arnie was always happy to spend time with his friends and family, and his gentleness, compassion, good nature and light humour endeared him to everyone who knew him. He was a true gentleman and his preferred exclamations of “holy Moses” and “boy, oh boy” indicate the kind of spirit he had, as opposed to the coarse words he could have used. Even though he was not a pet owner, his little friends Spike and Winston were always very excited when he came in the door. His grandchildren remember the wonderful times they spent with him, and many things they shared with Papa were truly “MARVELOUS!”

Arnie was predeceased by his son Terry; parents Jon Kristjan and Kristbjorg (Eyjolfson); brothers Albert and Konrad; sister Kristine; sisters-in-law Kay, Mary, and Anne; and brothers-in-law Fred, Ross, and Alf.

Arnie remains loved and will be greatly missed by his wife of over 66 years, Mary; daughters Lydia (Robert Parker) and Kathy (Steve Tysdal); grandchildren Rodney (Tammy) Parker, Kristofer Parker, June Parker, Kristi Tysdal and Liam Tysdal; sister Lillian Clark-Goodman; brothers-in-law Peter (Catherine) Waskul and Grant Kingdon; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

His family would like to thank the doctors and nurses in Unit 5A at Regina General Hospital and in Unit 3A (Palliative Care) at Pasqua Hospital for their compassionate, professional care during Arnie’s last days.

A Private Funeral Service will held on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. To view the livestream of the service, please click on the link above which will be available on the day of the service.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Arnie’s name either to the Canadian Cancer Society, 1910 McIntyre Street, Regina, SK, SRP 2R3 or Mount Olive Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, 2015 4^th Avenue North, Regina, SK, S4R 0T5.