Keith Gilbert Johnson

Keith Gilbert Johnson of Richmond, Texas, passed away on December 16, 2020, at the age of 89 years following an extended illness. He was known to be loving, kind and generous and will be greatly missed.

Keith was born in Racine, WI, on September 4, 1931. Growing up, he changed cities and schools eight times before graduating from Washington Park High School of Racine. Four years later, in 1952, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI. Upon graduation Keith was employed by Caterpillar, Inc. of Peoria, Illinois, for 43 years, retiring in 1995. During that time, he was assigned by Caterpillar to Peoria, IL; St. Louis, MO; Tokyo, Japan; and Geneva, Switzerland. For the last ten years of Keith’s career, up to his retirement in 1995, he was assigned a second time to Tokyo, Japan where he served as Vice President of Caterpillar, Inc. of Peoria and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the 50% US-owned and 50% Japanese-owned company of Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi, Ltd., and was a member of the Caterpillar Executive Committee. Keith also served as Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Japan, located in Tokyo. During all of Keith’s Caterpillar career, he lived overseas for 17 years and had the opportunity to travel to 75 countries, many of them more than once.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Gilbert and Violet Johnson, his only sibling, sister Constance Johnson Wiechers and her husband Lee, and one of his beloved nieces Joy Wiechers Geib.

Surviving him is his wife of 64 years, Norma Barrett Johnson, a Peoria, Illinois native, along with their four children, their spouses and families: Matthew and Kathryn (Sue) Johnson of Richmond, TX; Brian and Cris Johnson of Longwood, FL; Teresa and Jim Tedford III of Sacramento, CA; Paul and Tami Johnson of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL; plus 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by eight nieces and nephews and numerous great nieces and nephews.

Keith will be remembered as a loving family man. Despite having a busy career, he made spending time with his family a priority. He would find the time to play catch or board games, especially cribbage. He went to great lengths to get the whole family together regularly throughout his life at many wonderful locations, like Hawaii, Pebble Beach, the Outer Banks of NC, and Hilton Head. He and his three sons and son-in-law were able to play golf together on many occasions, in many global locations, creating lifelong great memories. He also loved to tell stories about his father Gilbert, who played semi-pro baseball and was one of only a few people in the United States who had a hole-in-one and bowled a perfect 300 game.

Keith was an avid sports fan as well, playing golf throughout his life, and supporting the UW Badgers and Green Bay Packers, going to football games every fall at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison and Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

The Johnson family wishes to recognize the Hospice staff at Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land, TX, who comforted Keith in his final days, and the staff at Legacy at Long Meadow Senior Care Facility, Richmond, TX, for their unwavering personal care of Keith while he lived there.

Services will be held at a later date in Peoria, Illinois.

For those wishing to leave a remembrance quote or story about Keith, please visit the internet site www.katyfh.com, and scroll down to Recent Obituaries to find Keith’s site.

For those wishing to remember Keith, please make donations to Alzheimer’s Association in his memory.