Mark Johnson

Mark Clifford Johnson was born on July 18th, 1960, in the small city of Stanton, California which neighbors the well-known cities of Anaheim and Buena Park. He passed away at the age of 65 on January 21st, 2026, in Colorado where he last resided in Colorado Springs. Mark spent his young childhood in a stroller being pushed by his mother on the open grounds of Knott’s Berry Farm and attended grade school in Anaheim where he met his best friend, Johnny Conniff in first grade and then his other best friend, Jim Abbott, in the fourth grade. Both friends were a special part of his life to the end.

Before Mark could legally drive, he bought his first car at age 14, a 57 Chevy Belair, which is still in the garage of his last home. Mark and Jim shared many wild adventures in that car, including driving it across country to southeast Texas where at one point Mark was even arrested for an unscrupulous driving offense. While living in Texas, Mark got his first real job selling cars and thus began his lifelong career in the car industry. Mark was the General Manager of a GM/Oldsmobile dealership in Whittier, CA for over 30 years.

Mark met the love of his life, Joy Marie Paris, in 1989 when she walked into the Isuzu dealership where he was working at the time. It was truly love at first sight. They were wed 5 years later on May 22nd, 1994, at Mark’s childhood park, Knotts’s Berry Farm, in the nostalgic 118-year-old “Church of Reflections”, which at that time was still within the park and still holding Sunday church services.

His favorite things were classic cars, e.g. his 57 Chevy, ocean fishing, baseball, his team the Anaheim Angels, and a great love of music. Mark played golf, billiards, ping pong, snow skied, worked out often, did lots of ocean fishing and enjoyed a good microbrew too. He went to well over 300 concerts and liked a variety of genres, but classic rock was his favorite. He was self-taught at playing the guitar and owned over 20 guitars, both acoustic and electric. Mark liked and was knowledgeable about antiques and Joy and him bought many beautiful pieces for their home.

Mark shared his love of life with Joy and in addition to all the fun activities, they had the luxury of traveling in the U.S. and to many countries such as Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Ireland, and Mexico, where they had some amazing and crazy adventures with great stories to share with family and friends.

If anyone ever exemplified the meaning of “a life well lived”, it was Mark. He will be greatly missed by his loving wife Joy, his family and his many friends.

Enjoy fishing and keep playing on!

Please visit The Charleston's website for venue parking information.

https://www.charlestonoc.com/