Halina Victoria Johnson

Halina Victoria Johnson passed on June 29, 2026, at the age of 99. Born on June 15, 1927, in Inowroclaw, Poland, she is the daughter of Jan and Pelagia (Teller) Bratak. She lost her mother at age 11. Six months later, Germany invaded Poland. Her book, Halina, Growing up in Occupied Poland During World War II, is a gripping account of the witness.

Halina received her formal education from the University of Poznan, earning her M.S. in Agrotechnical Science in 1951 and her Ph.D. in 1959. Working as a team alongside her husband, Dr. Kazimierz (Casimir) Bogdanski, she launched new information in vitaminology and co-authored two books. In 1956-57, she worked in IFAC at the University of Paris, France.

Halina married Kazimierz Bogdanski in 1951. This marriage was later to be declared invalid by the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Court in Poznaw, Poland. Later, when she married Dr. B. Connor Johnson, the two were able to be married in the Catholic Church.

In 1961, Halina took a position at the National Institute of Health (PZH) in Warsaw, and in 1963-64 as a research associate in the Division of Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL. Her paper was accepted for publication in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. She returned to Warsaw and continued to work at the now independent Institute of Food and Nutrition.

In 1966, she married Dr. B. Connor Johnson in Warsaw, and with her husband relocated to Oklahoma City, where she worked at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as the Senior Investigator at the Biochemistry Section, and since 1973, Cancer Research.

In the 1970s, Halina revived her calling as a freelance writer. Some of her articles have been inspired by the travels all around the world with her husband, Connor, to the international scientific meetings and on special assignments. In Oklahoma City, she was active in the Faculty Women and Faculty Gourmet Clubs, serving as the program director in the Polish Club and as the librarian and occasionally as a hostess in the Alliance Francaise.

Halina was preceded in death by her parents, both brothers, her husband B. Connor Johnson, and their daughter, Margaret (Maggie). She is survived by two grandchildren, Kenneth Gunderson and Marysia Gunderson. A memorial service for Dr. Halina V. Johnson will be held in the Chapel of St. Joachim at St. Ann Retirement Center, 7501 W. Britton Road, Oklahoma City at the end of July. Date to be determined.