Duane L. Johnson

Duane was born within a community of Swedish immigrants in northern Minnesota in June of 1933 to Helmfred and Mable Johnson. Life in northern Minnesota during the Great Depression was tough and he often spoke of hunting for mink and birds in the winter to help with food and money for the family. Duane showed ingenuity early in his life by repurposing an ice shed on skis, with a warm fire inside, behind a horse to take the neighbor kids to school for a nickel. By the time he was 10 his parents had moved to Portland in search of better opportunities in the logging industry.

Duane would spend much of his teenage years in the Portland and Seattle areas growing up fast. By the time he was sixteen he was on his own trying to make ends meet. A kind gentleman let him stay in a room above his gas station near Kent Washington. He worked odd jobs at Boeing, in restaurants and on one occasion painting wheelbarrows. The owner of the wheelbarrow company asked if he had experience painting to which he replied; “Oh, yes, lots of experience”. Those first wheelbarrows did not have the best paint job but he learned quickly and before long he was painting like a pro.

At nineteen Duane enlisted in the Air Force and became a member of 497th Fighter Squadron stationed in Spokane Washington where he became the Crew Chief for the Squadron Commander’s F-86 jet and traveled with the plane wherever it was deployed. He was very proud of his time in the service and made a point of staying in touch with other members of his squadron.

After leaving the military, he moved to San Bernardino and enrolled in college to ultimately get a degree in business. He began working for Bill Hager who had a business selling fertilizer to farmers throughout California. It was Bill that introduced Duane to Lucy at a dinner party hosted by Bill. After the dinner party, Duane asked Lucy out on a date and she quickly agreed. When that day came, Duane picked her up in front of the County Court House, where Lucy was working, in a pickup truck which was appropriate since she would be riding in one of his many pickup trucks for the next 45 years.

Duane and Lucy were married in a little chapel in Las Vegas in December of 1962. By the middle of 1963 they had bought a lot on Zanja View Dr in San Bernardino where they would build a house. When they pulled up to the lot to find a cement slab and pile of lumber in the driveway Lucy’s heart sunk. Duane had never built a house before, but he also hadn’t painted wheelbarrows or worked on jet airplanes either. For him, every challenge was an opportunity to learn a new skill. They built that first house together and finished it just in time for the arrival of their son, Michael. They both spoke fondly of their time building that house and were proud of what they accomplished together.

Not long after they were settled into their new house, they found themselves traveling to Hanford nearly every weekend to visit Lucy’s family and quickly realized that moving to the central valley would be a lot more convenient for everybody. Duane had not been a farmer or dairyman before but once again he was up for the challenge. They bought a dairy just outside of Hanford and milked over 100 cows until they sold it in 1969 and moved to Fresno.

Lucy’s sister, Della, and her husband had begun trailering a few years before and convinced Duane and Lucy that they, too, should get a travel trailer. So, in 1969, they bought their first travel trailer and with Don and Della made their first trip around the United States in a 24’ Aljo. They loved it so much that when they returned to Fresno they joined the Go-For-Fun trailer club that went trailering each month to a different park around California for the next 15 years. Duane and Lucy owned a travel trailer continuously until Lucy’s passing in 2006. Over that time, they traveled around the United States two more times and made a trip to Alaska. Duane had a million stories of the beautiful places they visited, the antiques they found and the friends they made along the way.

By 1970, Duane purchased a home near Fresno and Dakota and he was driving a big rig all over California hauling wine and spirits. His days were long, often getting up at 3:00 AM and not getting home until 6:00 or 7:00 PM only to do it again the next day. With that kind of work schedule, you would expect that he would just want to sleep on the weekends but that was not the case. When he wasn’t hooking up to the trailer for a Go-For-Fun weekend, you could find him on the lake fishing or hunting. Sometimes he would do both. I remember him taking the trailer and the boat to Huntington where they caught so much trout, they had a fish fry for the whole trailer club.

When he wasn’t trailering, fishing or hunting you could find him in the shop restoring vintage Fords. He restored numerous Mustangs and several Thunderbirds. One Thunderbird, a 1957, was particularly special. He and his son spent nearly a year restoring that car to showroom quality along with his brother-in-law John Teixeira. He took it to numerous shows and events where it consistently won awards for both its quality and authenticity. As a member of the Fresno T-Bird club he helped others restore or just fix their cars whenever possible.

In 1978, he purchased a new home in northwest Fresno; A Wathen Mansionette. Despite not building it himself, he was there every weekend that it was being built doing little things to “make it better”. He was so proud of the house and the community around him where he lived for the last 44 years.

Duane joined St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in 1992 and was an active member of the Knights of Columbus and an usher at Sunday’s Mass. He would bring in oranges from his yard and pistachios from the surrounding farms and give them away to parishioners. He touched so many with his easy smile and welcoming nature and was always willing to help those in need.

This, indeed, defined this man’s life. With his accumulated experience of building, farming, fixing, hunting, fishing and willingness to take on any challenge with a positive attitude, Duane showed us that we can do anything in life if we just believe in ourselves. The way he was always there to help individuals or organizations in need, he showed us what it means to be to be involved in our community. To be there for your family, he showed us what truly matters. The way he greeted strangers and friends alike, he showed us what is to authentically love people.

We will forever miss our Husband, Father, Grandfather, Uncle, Neighbor and Friend. Duane, you leave this world a much better place by what you taught us and how you touched us along the way. Thank you and may God bless you.