Harold Lee Johnson

October 11, 1940—September 3, 2019

Harold L. Johnson was the first of six children born to Myrtle (Bix) Johnson (Wright) and Harold Glen (Buck) Johnson. Harold was born in the Colorado mountain town of Leadville. As a little boy, Harold also lived with his parents for a time in the mountain towns of Nathrop, St. Elmo, and Chalk Creek, where they lived when his brother Gerald was born. When his Dad went to Italy in 1944, during WWII, the family moved to his Grandparents’ farm near Deertrail, where his brother Larry was born. Then the family moved to Denver where brother Lanny and sister Sunny were born after his Dad returned from the war.

In 1950, the family bought a house in the small town of Leyden, where his sister Melody was born and where Harold grew up. Harold was always very resourceful. He would go around to the neighbors as a kid, and do odd jobs for them. He dug a lot of holes for toilets and dug basements. He built the little barn at their house. He also built the chicken house and raised chickens for money. Harold built most of the addition on to the front of the house in Leyden.

His first real job working for someone was at a Dairy at West’s place, just south of Leyden. Then he worked at a construction site for a couple of years after school every day. When Harold was 18, he went to work at the Swift Packing House on the kill floor. He worked there for 7 ½ years, until they closed the plant. His next job was at the Urad Mine and the Henderson Mine. They mined for Molybdenum. He worked the mines for 8 years. He started off as a miner, ran the drill, and then got a chance to go into maintenance. Then Harold went to Electrician School and became their Head Electrician with 60 electricians working under him. The job was very dangerous and he finally quit the mine and took a job at McKelkies Electric, wiring new houses and commercial work, until they closed down. That’s when he started working for himself. He moved to Wiggins and went to work for the Chicken Farm, wiring all of their new buildings. Harold even lived in Alaska for 7 or 8 months, doing a wiring job on the Air Force Base. They were building a lot of new buildings. Harold then started selling at the Flea Market off and on, besides doing electrical jobs, and soon he was making his living buying and selling at the Flea Market.

Harold saved a woman once. On the way home to Wiggins a woman passed him, and all of a sudden her car ran off the road, came back on the road, went across the highway and jumped off the bank into a big irrigation ditch. Her car landed upside down in the water. Just the wheels were sticking out of the water. Harold and another guy jumped in the water, and took turns diving down under the water. It was in the summer and she had her window down. Harold dove under 2 or 3 times, until he finally found her and pulled her out and saved her life!

Harold kept bees for a while. In his house in Wiggins, he had an indoor bee hive, so you could see the bees flying through a tube to come into the hive that was between glass, and watch them making the comb, and the honey.

Once, when asked how he would describe himself, he said “I have always been a good worker. Most of the time, I’ve worked at more than one job at a time. The things that I cherish the most in this life are my kids. I would say that my greatest accomplishments in life were my kids. I think my kids are all great and I’m proud of them all. My wife Joanne must be kind of weird to be able to stay married to me for so long! Joanne’s a pretty good gal! We have a pretty good life together. I can’t say I would have done things much different in my life. I’ve obviously made a lot of mistakes, but they weren’t all bad. I’ve liked my life. The way I want to be remembered is that whenever I have had anything, I always shared it. I never did have much, but I always gave it to someone, or shared it. The only thing I would like to add is that I really have a great family. I had great parents and great Grandparents. That’s about all you can ask for in life!”

Harold was preceded in death by his Mother, Father, youngest brother Lanny, son-in-law Ed DeFeyter, both Johnson Grandparents and both Wright Grandparents.

Harold is survived by his loving wife Joanne Johnson, two daughters Holly, and Samantha (Sam), two sons Harold Andrew (Andy), and Ron and his wife Tami, a step-daughter Cassie and her four children Catalina, Creed, Remi, and Aspen, four Grandsons Glenn, Tim, Josh, and Kyle and his wife Jillian, and two Granddaughters Julienne, and Gracen, and two Great Granddaughters Liza and Anastasia. He also leaves behind two brothers Gerald and his wife Karen, and Larry and his wife Liz, and two sisters Sunny and Melody, his dog Hachi, and numerous nieces and nephews.

“God saw that he was getting tired, and a cure was not to be.

So He put His arms around him, and whispered “Come with Me.”

With tearful eyes we watched him die, and slowly fade away.

Although we loved him dearly, we could not make him stay.

His golden heart stopped beating, hard-working hands did rest.

God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.”

Author Unknown

Fond memories of Harold and expressions of sympathy for his family may be shared using the guest book link below.