Kathryn Marie Johnson

Kathryn “Dolly” Johnson (Uebelman) was born October 15, 1930 in Marion, Oregon on the family farm, in the family farm house. She passed away peacefully on April 30, 2018 at Hopewell Hospice House in Portland.

Dolly was a lifelong resident of the Salem area. She attended Englewood Elementary, Parish Junior High and graduated from Salem High School in 1948. She was married to Wallace Alvin Johnson on March 28, 1954. She was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Wallace (Wally), parents James and Elizabeth Uebelman and brother James Jr. (Jimmy).

Dolly loved her garden and flowers where ever they grew. She was an accomplished gardener achieving status as an OSU Master Gardener. She was very active with OSU Home Extension. She was especially known for her beautiful fuchsias. She knew the names of every variety of fuchsia and propagated many of them in her yard. She loved to preserve vegetables and fruit for her family and was an expert seamstress making all of her young children’s clothing.

She was employed as a nurse at the Fairview Training Center in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The joy of her life were her grandchildren, Matthew and Joseph Johnson. She would do most anything for the boys. She always had brownies, cookies, pie or cupcakes on hand when she watched them after school. Every holiday she would decorate the entire house, including the bathrooms, so the boys could enjoy “grandmas” house.

Another joy was the many cats and dogs that resided with the family over the years. They had a special place in her heart. She even named the farm animals that grazed on the family land. She was also very fond of the many wild animals found at the farm, especially birds.

Dolly also loved to travel. She and Wally would take a driving trip someplace new every September. They especially loved to travel through the rural west usually spending a good deal of time driving through farm lands. Her first travel outside the United States was a trip to Morocco with Wally. For her 80th birthday, she traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She talked about this trip for years. That same year she traveled to Maui to attend the wedding of her eldest son. She loved all the tropical flowers and seascapes.

“Kathryn accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior during her teenage years. She looked forward to her eternal home in heaven”

She is survived by her sons James (Cheryl) Lake Oswego, Dennis (Eileen) Salem, daughter Linda, Salem and her grandsons Matthew and Joseph.

The family would like to give special thanks to Jeanie Cox for her loving care during the last months of our mother’s life and to the staff at Legacy Hospice, especially Amethyst and Challin and the staff at Hopewell Hospice House.