George Johnson

George Vernon Johnson, a member of a keystone early-Sunnyside family, has died. He was 94. He was preceded in death last year by his dearly beloved wife, Carol Fischer Johnson, and by their dear daughter NonaRae (Jim) Robinson, also in 2023. Surrounded by loving family members, George was gathered into Carol’s welcoming arms on August 6 at their home in Sunnyside. George and Carol’s children, Michelle (Rolin) Heytvelt, Roxanne Johnson, Jeffrey (Lisa) Johnson, and Timothy (Don) Johnson survive him. Ten grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews continue his legacy. Robert, of California, is his sole surviving sibling. George was born at home near Jordan, South Dakota on January 30, 1930, the fifth of nine children born to Austin and Lillian Wagner Johnson. Twin siblings Ernest and Frank Johnson were born in the same home 22 months later. As with many Great-Plains farm families, the Great Depression and dust-bowl storms forced his parents to abandon farming in 1937 and seek a new life in the West. The ten Johnsons—Robert was not yet born—found blessed respite in the rainy environs of northern Idaho until 1941, when they relocated to the Yakima Valley. George was old enough to remember the move, ever-after describing their final home as “the Garden of Eden.” There, the Johnson Family thrived. A line from George’s 2021 autobiography is revealing: “We finally had the luxury of all that we wanted to eat. We thought we were halfway to heaven!” George graduated from Sunnyside High in 1948. Along the way he worked as a delivery boy for the Seattle paper and box-boy at Safeway, then began helping his parents in their newly acquired grocery, the 410 Market, later owned and run by brother Ray and partner Harold “Slim” Caton. He moved to Yakima in 1954 to continue working at the next family grocery store on Mead Avenue. He met his lifelong love, Carolyn Fischer, in Yakima and they married on May 5, 1956 at St. Paul's Cathedral. They moved their growing family to Sunnyside in the summer of 1960. George was delighted with his new role of husband and father and pursued it energetically, welcoming NonaRae, Michelle, Roxanne, Jeff, and Tim from 1956 to 1962. George commenced a 26-year career as a milkman in Sunnyside, often working sun-up to sundown, driving, driving. (“Energy” was his middle name.) Every person in town eventually came to know “George the Milkman.” He also tried lawn-care for a time and then drove a bus for the Sunnyside School District for 18 years. More driving! Adept with his hands, he enjoyed woodworking and fixing up old trucks over many years, skills he learned in high school and at Austin’s side growing up. He was also a Boy Scout pack leader, keeping pace with Carol, who served as a Bluebird and Campfire Girl leader. Yet another important contribution to the soul and substance of his town, George was a volunteer with the Sunnyside History Museum, once even serving as the Grand Marshall of its Sunnyside Days Parade. A devout Catholic, George’s faith always guided his life. Following Carol’s lead, he and she began hosting a prayer group in 1976 that met at their home once a week for the next 45 years. This line from George’s autobiography epitomizes his grounding in faith: “When our strings are well tuned, God can spontaneously play on our soul.” Love goes hand-to-hand in life. Being fifth in the birth-order, George enjoyed an advantage that none of his siblings shared. He was cared for and learned from—was loved by—the four before him, therefore knew how to pass those blessings on to the four after him. Even the month he was born in, January, which the ancients viewed as looking both forward and backward, seemed to denote his nature. He was stable, patient, sunny, welcoming, always temperate, eminently kind—and funny! There was not a hint of arrogance, no trace of ego, in his personality, no “putting on airs” as his mother might have put it. He was “just George”—100% George—through-and-through. We miss him greatly, but we know that he is in a place where there is no care, no trouble, no sorrow. And even if there were, we know that his gentle, sweet nature would never let it get him down. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of George Johnson, please visit our flower store.