Len Harry Johnson

He attended Rogers Lane elementary school across the street from their home in Wyoming, Michigan. His Mom would tell the story that Len would already be in the school by the time the house door closed. Len’s love of playing baseball started when he was in grade school and continued until his knee replacement surgeon said no more running.

Len graduated from Roges High School in 1967. He was on the tennis team.

He attended Western Michigan University where he obtained a five-year BS degree in industrial engineering. He was a member of the Lamda Chi Alpha fraternity and was a member of the ROTC. He worked his way through college as a butcher at Family Foods grocery store in Portage, Michigan. His greatest accomplishment in college was he met his future wife in a college writing class. They also took a couple of calculus classes together, just a couple of nerds. Len married Jennie L Weston in May of 1970 at a small country church, Taymouth Presbyterian, Birch Run Michigan.

When they were married the 1969 Buick Skylark he was driving went back to his dad and Len bought his first Pontiac, a 1968 GTO. His love for Pontiacs began.

Len became a girl dad in September of 1971. Monica had her dad wrapped around her tiny little finger from the moment he laid eyes on her. He brought her tiny baby pink roses while she was still in the hospital.

Len’s first real job was in management for General Motors in Saginaw, Michigan. Great job for seven years.

In 1974 Len and Jennie built a house, adopted a St Bernard puppy and welcomed a baby boy, Kevin, into the family. Len had a baseball bat and ball in Kevin’s hands as soon as he could hold them. What a crazy wonderful year that was.

In 1980, the love of skiing, and a job as an industrial engineer for Hercules/ATK called him to the mountains and Utah. He worked on many missile projects, yes, it was rocket science. The most interesting project was when he was sent to Russia for eighteen months to monitor their missile downsizing. He worked at ATK until he retired.

Well, he sort of retired, Len went back to school and obtained an associate’s degree from SLCC in auto painting. He worked as a lab assistant part time in the Automotive, Auto Collison Department at SLCC until his passing.

Len enjoyed many sports and hobbies over the years. Len enjoyed golf until he golfed with his father-in-law a few times and realized it was a sport he just couldn’t master. Bowling and baseball were much kinder to him. He enjoyed both cross-country skiing and downhill skiing. When both were becoming too routine, he took up telemark skiing. He had an Alta Season Pass for over forty years. He enjoyed tennis and racket ball. Hobbies included stained and fused glass, metal artwork, antique car collecting, auto painting (loved the flames on cars), beer brewing, and a little hiking and fishing.

Len loved to travel both domestically and internationally. He traveled for both work and relaxation. His last trip, just a few weeks ago was a quick hope over the Denver for a concert. His most memorable trip was a trip to Egypt.

Len is survived by his wife Jennie, daughter Monica, son Kevin, Kevin’s wife Ashley, three fabulous grandsons, Dakota, Dalton, and Sawyer, one brilliant granddaughter, Josey, his brothers Stuart, and Carl, and many cousins and in-laws.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the church, memorial scholarship, charity of your choice or buy a hotrod and drive it the way Lenny would.

Celebration of life: June 4, 2025, at 11:00 A.M. (MDT) Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1070 S Foothill Dr. Salt Lake City, Utah

Internment of the urn following the service at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 S Highland Dr. Mlllcreek, Utah.

Hors d’oeuvres served following the internment at 4069 S Splendor Way, Holladay, Utah.

If you can’t attend the service in person, please watch the live feed on ZELC.org. It can be viewed via Facebook or YouTube.