Tribute

Florence Johnson, age 89, of Cranbrook, BC died Saturday, September 3, 2011 at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook after a recent illness. Florence was born in Strathclair, Manitoba in 1921 to Herbert and Margaret Rapley. She was one of a family of three boys and four girls. She grew up in a rural area and vividly remembered her father hitching the horses to the van (sled) to take them to school.
She graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1944 from the Dauphin General Hospital School of Nursing. After graduating, she moved north to nurse at The Pas TB Sanatorium. It was here that she met her future husband, an Icelander Palmi “Red” Johnson, who she married in 1945. Together they made a home at The Pas Airport and later Cranberry Portage where they built their home on the shore of Lake Athapapauskaw. She loved the north, delighting in the crunch of snow beneath her feet, the smell of autumn in the air and the northern lights dancing in the sky above. She took pride in her role as a homemaker. She was an accomplished seamstress, making her own clothes and even sewing coats out of moose hide for her boys. Grandma’s kitchen was known for her baked treats, Icelandic brown bread and the best carrot cake anywhere. A keen reader, she loved history, travel, especially Arctic travel and biographies. When her husband suffered a stroke at an early age, she cared for him at home for many years. When he had to move into a care facility, she supported him and others with her visits, always standing up for the rights of patient dignity for those in care facilities.
She is survived by her son Dennis (Sandy) Johnson of Cranbrook, their children Kevin and Heather, son Ian (Marie) of The Pas, MB, their sons Leif and Erik, grandchildren David and Erin Johnson, sister Dorothy Ward of Winnipeg and many loved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband Palmi in 1998, her son Gerald in 1979, her son David in 1999, her grandson Ian in 2005 and siblings Mary, Kenneth, Eileen, Hazel, Jimmy and Eric.
There will be no service at her request. Burial will take place at a later date with family.
Thank you to Dr.S.Macdonad, Dr.Aleem and the nursing staff of 2nd and 3rd floor and the staff at Joseph Creek where she resided for the past few years.