Larry Floyd Johnson

Larry Floyd Johnson was born February 28, 1942, to Floyd Clayton Johnson and Vera Hanna Bangston Johnson in Shakopee, Minnesota. He grew up with his siblings, Germaine Marlene Johnson (Malzahn) (5 years older) and Nile Richard Johnson (younger by a year) in the small country town of East Union, 35 miles South of Minneapolis. He was very proud of his Swedish heritage and family.

Growing up he spent time in “the woods” and down by the river. He worked on the farms when there was work to be done and would also do chores like mowing the lawn. Working on farms would be his first job as a team where he gained a respect for manual work that would stick with him over the years.

At Chaska High School, Larry played on the varsity basketball team but only because he was tall. He also participated in a school play, but mostly kept to himself. He was close to some of his teachers, whom he considered friends.

Larry was never sure what career path he wanted to follow; he was a dreamer. He was always interested in school and learning. Ten days after his high school graduation, he enlisted, without telling his family, and left for bootcamp and training for the United States Coast Guard. Plus, he had always had a fascination with boats and liked being on them. Much of his time in the US Coast Guard from 1960 to 1963 was spent on an icebreaker in Alaska. Upon discharge from the US Coast Guard in Seattle, Washington, he worked as a research assistant before moving to Inglewood, California to earn his aircraft A&P license. Once back in Seattle, he started working for United Airlines as an airline mechanic and met his first wife Pat Coughlin. They were married in 1968 and moved to Alaska in 1970, where he was an aircraft mechanic on helicopters out in ‘the bush’. They owned a Husky type of dog they named Tuborg (after a Danish beer). Larry and Pat were married until Pat’s death in 1975.

After returning from Alaska, Larry spent the rest of his career as a service technician for food packaging companies. He enjoyed the opportunity to travel nationwide and statewide servicing food packaging machines.

At a New Year’s Eve party, Larry saw a tall lady peeling carrots at the Tall Club gathering. That lovely woman was Dori Gustafson and within no time, Larry and Dori were married. During their marriage, they purchased the house that would end up being Larry’s place to do handy and manual work for many years. It was also the house that Dori kept and raised her two adopted daughters and where Larry’s name changed to “Uncle Larry” for the rest of his life. While Larry and Dori’s marriage ended, in 1983, Dori adopted her first daughter, Anjuli from Kolkata, India (previously Calcutta). She then adopted her youngest daughter Jyoti and Uncle Larry got to be the dad he never thought he would be. Along with Anjuli and Jyoti, “Uncle Larry” was present for all the family children, including Reggie and Anthony Gomez, and Ajay and Piya Iselin. Larry loved his role as “Uncle Larry” and always brought his sense of humor to his relationship with the family.

Larry’s hobbies included boats, drawing, and reading. For many years, he owned a Drascombe sailboat, which he enjoyed sailing on Lake Washington. Walking the docks and looking at the fishing boats at Fisherman’s Terminal was a favorite past time. He was very artistic and loved to draw and look at art. One Christmas, his gifts were drawings that he had done. Larry’s love of reading included books about boats, art and drawing, historical novels, mysteries, and books by Swedish authors.

Christmas was a special time and always included a big lutefisk dinner and a time for the annual Aquavit drink with his best friend, Bob Kristensen, along with the annual Christmas Eve celebration with all the Coughlin family.

Larry was preceded in death by Dian Coughlin Herrick, Nile Johnson (Marty), Germaine Johnson Malzahn (Richard), Mike Coughlin, Mike Gomez. He is survived by his brother-in-law Jack Herrick, sister-in-law Kay Gomez, and nieces and nephews Heather Zech, Sean Coughlin, David Herrick, and John Herrick, Anjuli Gustafson, Jyoti Gustafson, Reggie Gomez, Piya Iselin, Ajay Iselin.