Lois Marie (Zimmer) Johnson
GLADSTONE — Lois Marie (Zimmer) Johnson, 79, of Gladstone, Mich., passed away on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at home. Lois was born on March 16, 1945, in Pontiac, Mich., to Georgia Ophelia and Arthur Wayne Zimmer. She grew up in her family’s greenhouse and then attended Central Michigan University. She taught in the Escanaba Public Schools for most of her teaching career, and she held thousands of students in her heart long after they grew up. In her retirement, Lois explored the country by RV with her husband and junior prom date, Richard, found them a winter home in Mesa, Ariz., and opened her patio there to a vast group of friends for regular eating and crafting and talk. For 30 years, on Thursday mornings, she enjoyed coffee and camaraderie with her treasured and evolving circle of friends. She was silly, artistic, supportive, kind, ready to help anyone, a fan of irises and Gambel’s quails, good at cards, bad at Wordle, and ready to whip up a broccoli-cauliflower salad or paint a t-shirt at a moment’s notice. She will be severely missed.
Lois is survived by her husband, Richard Leroy Johnson, by her daughters Jennifer Howard and Rebecca Reed (Ron), her stepchildren Melissa Owen (Mark), Christy Harvey (Jeff), and Dave Johnson (Drew), her grandchildren Nora Culik, Gorg Reed, Isabelle Reed, Cade Owen, Isley Owen, Matthew Larson (Emma), Kyle Larson (Mandy), and her great-grandchildren Zander Larson, Niko Larson, and Theo Larson, sisters-in-law MaryAnn Farrell (Don) and Carol Lyon, her brother-in-law Tom Johnson (Sandy), and her beloved sister Harriet (Happy) Pearson. She is pre-deceased by her parents and her sister Nancy Joy Lewis.
We invite all friends and family of Lois Johnson to attend a celebration of her life at the pavilion at Ludington Park in Escanaba from 1 until 4 p.m. on Friday, September 27. Bring a dish to share if you’d like. Thank you for coming together to remember her with us. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to her chapter of Philanthropic Educational Organization, which empowers women in paths toward higher education. Checks may be made to: “P.E.O. Chapter Z” and sent to c/o Cilla Green, P.E.O. Chapter Z Treasurer, 2001 10th Avenue South, Escanaba, MI 49829.