Rodney Lee Johnson

Rod Johnson died on October 1, 2021 in Cedar Park, Texas. He was born on June 11, 1935, in

Taylor, Texas. He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years Jane Johnson and his parents

Sigurd Johnson and Vivian (Challstrom) Johnson. He is survived by daughter Joan

Cunningham and husband David Cunningham, son Steven Johnson and wife Jennifer Reese,

grandsons Jackson Cunningham and Samuel Johnson, and sister Kris Rose.

Rod was raised on the family farm in Jonah, Texas and was a 1953 graduate of Georgetown

High School. He accepted navel a ROTC scholarship to attend the University of Nebraska. In

1958 he graduated with a B.S in Mechanical Engineering and was commissioned as a naval

officer. In December 1958 he married Jane and they moved to San Diego California. While in

the Navy he served three years in the Pacific as an engineering and executive officer on the

destroyer USS Richard B. Anderson.

In 1961, Rod moved to reserve status with the Navy and he and Jane moved to Waco, Texas

where he accepted a position with Rocketdyne Corp. In the summer of 1966, Rod and Jane

moved their young family to Austin where Rod had accepted a position at TRACOR, Inc. In

1972 Rod left TRACOR and, with other several colleagues, founded the company Spenco.

Several of Rod’s patents related to gas pump management served as part of the core

“Intellectual Property” for the new company. After a successful acquisition by Dresser

industries, Spenco became Wayne Systems. Rod served the company as lead design engineer

and eventually Director of the engineering department.

After a thirty-year career Rod retired in 1994. However, this was the beginning of new

adventures. In the years that followed Rod focused on travel, his woodcarving endeavors,

serving as president of Texas Swedish Pioneer Association, helping to found the Carl Widen

VASA Lodge, serving as an “Artist in Education” for the Texas Commission on the Arts, raising

funds for the Endowment for Swedish Studies Excellence at the University of Texas at Austin,

being named Swedish American of the year in 1999, being a doting, supportive grandfather to

Jack and Sam, and being a wonderful husband and father. He will be missed by many.

The family asks that you consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association:

https://www.alz.org/