David Earl Johnson

He was born in Santa Rosa, California on March 22,1934 to his German immigrant mother, Elisabeth Laipple Johnson, and his Swedish immigrant father, Earl Johnson. Dave was a proud German-Swedish-American who lived a full life. After all, he thought he was about 130 by the end of it. When reminded that he would turn 88 in just one month he joked, “it takes one month to turn 88?!” Dave loved a good joke or pun, and probably thought that Tuesday, February 22, 2022 (“twos”day) seemed like a good day to go, but ask anyone who worked with him, he was always late.

After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1956, Dave served in the US Army in Germersheim, Germany for two years. Dave spent his life as a USDA Soil Conservation Service engineer/hydrologist and ended his career worrying about the snowpack and its impacts on agriculture in the western states. He spent his retirement keeping up with his children and grandchildren, and calling his brother, Ralph, concerned about the lack of rain in Orinda. Any time it snowed in Beaverton, Dave spent a great deal of time drafting the perfect notice to send to Ralph and his kids in California. It seems that more than 20 years after retirement, he just couldn’t leave the environment and the Snow Survey behind.

Everyone who knew Dave, loved Dave for his humor and quick wit. His wife, Joan, spent her entire marriage with Dave explaining to everyone he met that if you have to say “really?” to him, whatever he was saying wasn’t true. This of course made the word “really” one of Dave’s favorite words to hear.

Dave loved children of all ages and leaves behind his children Stephen, Susanna, Monica, Christopher, Jody and Jessica, and his grandchildren Paul, Christopher, Nicholas, Jordan, Jade, Eleni, Aurelio, Elly and Charlie. He was most frequently known as “Opa”, and he wore it proudly. You could usually find Dave cheering on his grandchildren from a sideline, in an auditorium or at any family event he could get to.

Dave’s biggest passions were caring for family, the weather (snow and rain particularly), telling silly jokes, and watching birds. Dave had a very special gift for making the mundane magical and finding the light side of life. He will be missed very much.

Dave’s favorite thing to do was tell stories. The Johnson family would love if you would share any stories you have of Dave here on his site. We thank you for your condolences, Dave loved you all very much.