Reid H Johnson

Our loving husband and father, Reid Herman Johnson, passed away at home on April 7, 2020 of natural causes. He was born on September 5, 1928, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the only living child of John Herman Johnson and Sarah Melva Ashton. Reid loved his parents and honored them all his life. He graduated from East High School and later from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Reid married Donna Wood in the Salt Lake Temple on August 7, 1953. Together they bought a little home on Katherine Circle, and from there, Reid started two successful businesses, Industrial Container and Supply and Johnson Sales, Co. His dear friend, Joseph Goodman, became his business partner. Our dad was known throughout his business circles as a person of uncompromising integrity. Reid learned from his mother to love music, especially singing and playing the piano. He sang in choirs and quartets all his life, including ten years in the Tabernacle Choir. He especially loved singing tenor with his quartet, “The Novelaires,” and playing piano duets with his mother and later his children. Even when he lost his memory, he could sit at the piano and play “Clair de Lune” by Debussy or “Nocturne” by Grieg without music. Sweden, the country of his ancestors, was another of Reid’s first loves. He served there as a young missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1947-50), mission president (1966-69), regional representative (1972-75), Stockholm Temple president (1991-94), and temple missionary (January 2000-June 2001). He spoke excellent Swedish and loved his missionaries and many friends in Sweden with all his heart. Most important to Reid were his family and his testimony of Jesus Christ. Almost every year from 1993 to 2014, he gathered the family in a cabin somewhere for a week of making memories. Famous for hauling his camera wherever he went, he recorded every family event in pictures and in his prolific journals. He wrote and published eight histories of his ancestors, as well as a joke book and a collection of funny family stories. Everyone who knew him loved his quick sense of humor, which he retained to the very end. In addition to his church service in Sweden, Reid served faithfully as bishop of Canyon Rim 2nd Ward for nine years while he was establishing his business and raising a young family. He was a stake patriarch and temple sealer, performing the marriages of several of his grandchildren. All his life, he made it a point to remember people’s names and was very generous with his time and means. He helped many gain a testimony of the gospel, get on their feet financially, or feel loved by paying them special attention. His greatest desire was to serve the Lord Jesus Christ by serving His children. In his later years Reid lost his memory, but he never forgot to make sure someone said a blessing on the food before we ate. He kept the family and other caregivers laughing with his witty comments and expressed gratitude for every act of kindness performed for him. As one of his granddaughters said, “The greatest gift we can give back to Grandpa will be to continue to support, love, and care for one another.” Reid is survived by his wife, Donna, daughter Laurie (Raymond) Cutler, son Mark (Linda) Johnson, daughter Julie (Ted) Lloyd, daughter Kathleen (Steve) Pearson, 21 grandchildren, and 58 great-grandchildren, as well as “adopted” children Jessica (Doug) Peterson, Trish (Manny) Chavez, and Victor (Katie) Ukorebi and 15 “adopted” grandchildren. A private family graveside service will take place at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park on Friday, April 10th. Please leave condolences and your email here if you would like information about the memorial service to be held at a later date.