Arthur J. "Art" Johnson

Arthur J. "Art" Johnson, a cherished resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, passed away on February 5, 2026, at the age of 98. Born on September 11, 1927, in Garrett, Indiana, Art lived a long and fulfilling life, a son of the late Stephen and Sylvia (Imbody) Johnson.

Art loved God, going to church, and praying the rosary after breakfast with Rose, his wife. He always used his favorite black rosary and sat in his easy chair, which he called "Number 12." Art and Rose were married October 29, 1947, at St. Joseph's Church in Garrett, Indiana.

Art loved Rose for 78 years. He loved to write poetry to her on special occasions. When a Christmas present was late arriving Art wrote,

"Your order is at the factory, and it should be on its way. I'm sorry there wasn't room for it on the Christmas sleigh. I've left a little something though it's not the real thing. Just shake your hand a little bit and pretend you got your ring."

Santa

When asked by a newly married couple how Art and Rose stayed married so long, Art answered, "Two words. Yes, dear." Their nightly hug and kiss ended each day.

Art and Rose loved their children, Nick, Christine, Joyce, and Tim. At Christmas, they brought us downstairs carrying our stockings from Santa and slowly led us to the huge live Christmas tree in the living room. Dad delighted in surprising us by keeping us focused on the presents under the tree and walking us right past the bicycles in the small room off to the left on the way. After opening presents under the tree, Dad led us to that small room for the big surprise. Dad also expected us to work hard and do well. After doing arithmetic homework at the dining room table, Dad would check it and draw a squiggly line down a column of numbers that wasn't up to his accountant's standards. Dad's method of discipline was always firm, but never harsh. Dad would say when he found a light left on, "I don't want to know who didn't leave the light on. I want to know who did." Dad taught us not only responsibility; he taught us how to save money too. Dad and Mom both taught by example. They were proud of us as we progressed through school and became successful adults. Dad loved to tell others what we were doing and how proud he was of us.

Art loved his country and volunteered to serve in the U. S. Navy during WWII. He was a "plank member" of the U.S.S. Witek DD848 when it was first commissioned. Art was the first loader on the 40 mm guns as the destroyer patrolled for enemy submarines. The Witek's motto was "Quaerere - Invenire - Vincere" --in Latin meaning To Seek, To Find, To Conquer. Art applied a version of this motto to his life. When making a decision he would Seek - Find - Apply all he had researched and read to accomplish his goal. All through his life Art loved flying the flag at home and singing patriotic songs. Even in his 90's Art said, "If my country would call, I would go."

As a boy, Art loved fishing, and often rode his bicycle from Garrett to Story Lake. Art even took Rose fishing on their honeymoon at a home on Clear Lake owned by Mr. & Mrs. Christian, Rose's employer at Christian's Drug Store in Garrett. As a small boy, I remember bluegill fishing on Henry Lake with Mom and Dad. Later Dad's love of fishing would turn into family vacations. He would research different locations to find the best one. We went to Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Quebec Canada. Dad bought an 18 ft. Aristocraft boat that was wide and safe for his family to fish for walleye on Lac Simard. After a morning's catch he would pull up on one of the many islands for a shore lunch of fresh walleye and baked beans. Dad always loved to meet others in the camp and talk fishing. On an early vacation on Rifle Lake in Michigan, Mom asked, "Where's your father?" Tim, only a young boy, said, "Dad's talking to Roger. If he isn't talking, he's fishing, and if he isn't fishing, he's talking." Art will be buried with a Creek Chub Pikie bait made in Garrett, Indiana. He kept it in the original box neatly arranged in his tackle box. Our family fishing vacations never meant a vacation from God. Dad always found a nearby church for Sunday Mass. In Quebec, that meant going to Mass in French.

Art was a loyal Notre Dame football fan from the time he was a boy up to and including this last season. He proudly wore his Notre Dame sweatshirt and hat on game day and loudly sang the Notre Dame Victory March. He even had a Notre Dame blanket on the bed. As a young boy, he attended games with his Dad. Art will be be buried with a ticket stub he had kept as a souvenir from the Indiana vs Notre Dame football game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 4, 1941. The total cost of the ticket was $2.20.

Art worked at Clark's Grocery store and as a fireman on the B&O Railroad in Garrett. He went to International Business College in Fort Wayne to become an accountant to provide for his young family. While working at Fertig Stocks and Bonds, Mr. Fertig asked Art to fill out a signature card for the bank. Mr. Fertig told Art, "That won't do; it's too neat." That was Art expecting to always do the best. Art moved to Wayne Pipe and Supply where he rose to become the Secretary Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer. Art would use that neat handwriting to write personal notes to the plumbers to thank them for on time payment.

Art and Rose enjoyed taking their young family to look for morel mushrooms in the woods around Fort Wayne. Dad's favorite time was around Mother's Day in May. He taught us to look around dead elm trees and under May apple plants. Dad delighted in spotting mushrooms and telling us to find them, often with a lot more coaching from him before they were spotted. Once when Dad and I were hunting, we came upon a whole hill of morel mushrooms. At first Dad thought about going back to get Mom, but decided we had better pick the mushrooms and take the treasure back to show her. As woods disappeared to development, Art, as always, researched better hunting places and took the family to Cadillac and Mesick, Michigan. Art had an amazing ability to remember how to get to places he had been before, and could always find the woods we had hunted when we returned. Art knew Rose loved ice cream and knew from his research to stop at Jones' Ice Cream Shop in Baldwin, Michigan.

When Art was out in the woods or working in the yard, he liked to watch and listen for cardinals. He delighted in calling a cardinal and getting it to answer back. Art has a collection of cardinal figurines, plates, and even a large cardinal cookie jar that almost fills a china cabinet. Many were found at garage sales and flea markets that Art, Rose, and the family visited. Others were gifted to him over the years.

Art started thinking about retirement and starting a small business with Rose in the Seattle area where Rose's Uncle Ted lived. Art researched as much as he could from home and decided the best thing to do was to take a family vacation there. Since Rose's parents were going along so her Dad could see his brother, Art bought a 24-foot Winnebago Motor Home. He studied about all the sights along the way such as Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and Custer Battlefield. The trip convinced Art and Rose that they needed to move there to make the best decision.

After Art retired from Wayne Pipe, he and Rose headed to Seattle, Washington in their motorhome. Along the way, Art and Rose lived and worked in Dale Welch's Apple Orchard in Wenatchee, Washington. Art said it was one of the most satisfying jobs he ever did--pruning, propping, and picking the apples. Art and Rose decided to head to the small town of Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula. After more research, they decided to invest their savings rather than start a small business. They later came to Lynnwood, north of Seattle. Art and Rose found work together at 5th Wheel Travel in Seattle where Art did the accounting and Rose did selling. They loved the snow on the beautiful mountains and the milder climate around Seattle. Tim, their youngest son, became a geologist and moved there. He married Deirdre and raised a family nearby. Dad and Tim loved salmon fishing on Puget Sound. Nick enjoyed visits to see them during summer vacations from teaching. Art and Rose still loved mushroom hunting in the mountains where once they encountered a mother black bear and her cub.

After twenty-nine years, Art and Rose decided to return to Fort Wayne in 2006. They enjoyed living near Joyce and Nick in Fort Wayne with trips to visit Christine and Merl near Columbus, Ohio. The cold winters though caused Art to research for warmer winter vacations. Art and Rose, along with their family, enjoyed time in Texas, Alabama, and Florida.

This FINALLY brings us to one more love of Art and that is card playing. He loved playing Eucher, Pinochle, Hand and Foot and Poker, along with several others with the family. Hand and Foot was a particular favorite of Art and Rose who played with Joyce and Charlie. Art even won a trophy at the annual summer poker get together when he worked at Wayne Pipe. Art's skill and luck at playing cards always amazed us. No matter how many games he had won, Art's exclamation of "FINALLY" followed his next win as if he had never won a game. Art's Great-granddaughter, Amber, gave her Gpa a red sweatshirt with a Royal Flush on the front and a big "FINALLY" above it and a big "LUCKY" on the back.

After loving each other deeply in their own home and blessed by good health into their nineties, their health FINALLY did begin to fail. Both of them had hoped to live to be a 100 because Art's Great Grandmother Ida had told him, "The first hundred years are the hardest." For the past two years their children have been their caregivers, giving back only a small part of the love they gave us. Rose lived to be 99 and died on December 12, 2025. Art lived to be 98 and died on February 5, 2026. After receiving the Last Sacrament and Pontifical Blessing from Father Nathan both died at home surrounded by their family. We have a feeling Art will be researching his way around Heaven and telling Rose all about it. Art might even be checking into any card playing around the Golden Gates as he will be buried in that red sweatshirt with FINALLY and LUCKY on it on Friday the 13th.

It was hard for Art after his love of 78 years died, but like always, Art must have researched it carefully years earlier. I found an Anniversary Card in their bedroom that showed two bunnies cuddling on a hill with the words YOU and ME above it. Inside it simply says ETERNITY on one side and in a star filled heart on the other side HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. I LOVE YOU, ART. The words I LOVE YOU were underlined several times.

FINALLY, Our Lord brought Art and Rose together again in Heaven with their parents and brothers and sisters. They will be together for Valentine's Day and one day we hope to join them. FINALLY we'll all be together again.

Surviving family include his children, Nicholas Johnson, Christine (Merlin) Reimer, Joyce Husted, and Timothy (Deirdre) Johnson; grandchildren, Michele (Robert) Husted-Galbreath, Andrea (Brent Owens) Gieg, Sarah Reimer, Samantha (Thomas) Ratliff, Meredith (Martin) Crowe, Stephanie (Bryan) Hollar, and Amy Johnson; great grandchildren, Amber Logan, Sydney (Mason) Howard, Aidan Gieg, Evelyn Crowe, Anna Crowe, Dominic Ratleff, Riley Crowe, and Wesley Hollar; and sisters-in-law, Barbara Miller and Mary Ellen Johnson. Besides his wife and parents, he was preceded in passing by his brother, Dr. Floyd Johnson, and son-in-law, Charlie Husted.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 12:00 pm on Friday, February 13, 2026, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 943 Powers Street, New Haven, with visitation beginning at 11:00 am and a rosary beginning at 10:30 am. Burial will follow at Highland Park Cemetery, Fort Wayne.

Memorials in Arthur's name may be made to Heartland Hospice, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for Masses, New Haven, or Fort Wayne Veteran's Hospital. Hockemeyer & Miller Funeral Home, Fort Wayne, has been entrusted with his care. Condolences and memories may be left online at www.hockemeyermillerfh.com