Obituary of Charles Johnson

Charles "Charlie" Johnson of Cambridge died on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at his home at the age of 78. He was born on August 12, 1935 to Elmer and Mabel (Carlson) Johnson and lived the first 2 years of his life in Isanti. The family then moved to Cambridge when his father who was a rural mail carrier was transferred to a Cambridge route. Charlie attended Cambridge Public School graduating in 1953. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College graduating in 1959 with a business degree. He joined the Army Reserves where he finished his military duty playing his coronet for the military band. Charlie's work history included three years as a Minneapolis Police Officer, a financial investigator for Hennepin County Divorce Court, one term as Isanti County Auditor, ten years as transportation and business manager for St Francis Public Schools and for the last 30 years operating his own Cambridge Income Tax and Accounting business. In 1968, Charlie married Nancy Glas from Hutchinson who was teaching Family and Consumer Economics (Home Economics) at Cambridge-Isanti High School. They had one daughter, Jodi who was the light of his life. He was a member of the Lions Club for over 30 years, the Helios Lodge and Cambridge Lutheran Church where he was a member all of his life and active in the men's club as treasurer and promoter of the annual lutefisk dinner. Charlie loved sports. He followed all the Cambridge Bluejackets' teams charting the statistics on his clipboard and faithfully checked the scores in the papers when he could no longer attend games. He played and managed the Cambridge Redbirds Baseball team for many years and was involved in the Eastern Minnie League. Then he moved on to softball helping manage and catching for the ReRuns team until his legs gave out. He loved people, spending hours over the years at the coffee table at Peoples Café or the Bakery solving the world's problems or analyzing the latest Bluejacket or Twins game. He was affectionately called the "Coupon King of Isanti County" as he would make a dollar stretch into five shopping for groceries for people who needed help. He loved pulling pranks on the neighborhood children or his daughter's friends and really loved hosting many gatherings at the family cabin on Spectacle Lake. Charlie loved camping. His motto was "have van, tent and trailer - will travel" taking his family to most state parks in Minnesota and many western states. He always found someone he knew or made new friends around the many campfires. In 2008, Charlie developed health problems resulting in his leg being amputated and finally a rare blood cancer that took his life. Charlie is survived by his wife Nancy and daughter Jodi of Cambridge, brother Richard of Lindstrom and nephew Brad Nelson and family of Prior Lake. He is preceded in death by his parents Elmer and Mabel (Carlson) Johnson and sister Marlene Nelson Porter.