Dorothy Irene (McDaniel) Johnson

Irene, 101 years, passed away in Antioch, CA, on 6 April, 2022 She was born in San Jose to Wilfred and Lucretia (Bailey) McDaniel in March of 1921. Irene attended San Jose State before marrying Robert Johnson in 1941. Irene descended from a line of early Santa Clara settlers. Her great-grandfather, Morgan Fine, led a wagon train from Missouri and secured a tract from a rarely-awarded Spanish land grant in the Rose Garden area of San Jose. Her family resided there for many years. Her father also prospected for gold on the beaches of Nome, Alaska after the 1898 strike there. Irene later donated his artifacts and photographs to the Carrie M. McLain Museum in Nome. She also helped publish a book that included letters, diary entries and photographs from her father’s many trips to Nome. In 1955 she, her husband and children lived in Panama for six months while husband, Bob, was there to help set up a powered milk plant. She took a deep interest in the people, culture and food of the country. Irene was a lover of nature, travel, the arts, and cooking. She enjoyed her mountain cabin where the grandchildren were also able to appreciate her love of the mountains and Yosemite. Irene was preceded in death by her one brother Wilfred McDaniel of Tracy and husband Robert. She is survived by her son, Colin (Julia Powell) of Logan, UT, daughter Kathleen Thaw, five grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. She will be missed. Any donations you wish to make to your favorite charity or the McLain Museum in Nome would be greatly appreciated.