Dr. Rodney Charles Johnson

Published August 05, 2019 at 10:14 AM

Dr. Rodney Charles Johnson passed away on Monday, July 29, 2019 at Countryside Manor in Sheboygan WI where he had been a resident in their memory care unit for seven months. He was born March 30, 1932 to Alice (Jensen) and Ed Johnson in Audubon MN. Rodney graduated from Lake Park High School in 1950. On May 3, 1958, he married Dolcye Ann Torgerson, and they became parents of three children, Kirt Charles, Kirstin Ann and Kristian Radich. He completed his medical training at the University of MN in 1961 followed by a residency in Psychiatry. He accepted a position on the staff of the Sheboygan Clinic in July, 1965. In August, 1980 he became Assistant Medical Director for Clinical Psychiatry, U.S. Department of State. He participated in the debriefing of the American hostages when they were released by Iran after holding them for 444 days. He traveled to various posts around the world for his work with the State Department Foreign Service and the CIA and was posted to Mexico City for three years, serving all of South and Central America and the entire Caribbean region. His love of sailing led to his crossing the Atlantic Ocean seven times in various sailboats, keeping him at sea for six weeks on each crossing. As a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves, he was deployed to Iraq during the Gulf War in November, 1990. He served on the front line during Operation Desert Storm with the 7th Corps, 3rd Armored Division, which was involved in the “left-hook” attack on the Republican Guards in southern Iraq during the ground war. During his retirement years, he spent summers on Detroit Island in northern Lake Michigan where he docked his 72 foot sailing ketch, the Barlovento. His proudest achievement in retirement was building a two-story stone house on his beloved Island and setting every stone himself. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alice and Ed Johnson, his younger brother Douglas, and sister-in-law Carol. He is survived by his wife, Dolcye; son Kirt, Kewaunee WI; daughter Kirstin (Henry III) Brandtjen, St Paul MN; son Kristian (Rosemary), Belvidere IL; twin grandsons Douglas Charles and Conrad Robert, Belvidere IL; grandson Henry Brandtjen IV, St Paul; brothers Ronald, Thief River Falls MN and William (Marlys), Crookston MN; sister Judy Thomas, Cambridge MN; sister-in-law Ramona (Russell) McDougall, Hitterdal MN, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, August 17th at the Sheboygan Yacht Club.