John O. Johnson, 94, died on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, at Avantara Salem Health Care Community in Salem.

Funeral services and visitation were held on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Will Funeral Chapel in Mitchell with burial at the Mount Vernon Cemetery.

John Orville Johnson was born on April 5, 1926, in Mount Vernon to William and Anna (Soma) Johnson. He was raised on a farm near Letcher and graduated from Letcher High School. John then joined the war effort and entered the United States Army in 1944. John served with the 22 Infantry Company L. in Germany until he was wounded in battle.

Following his honorable discharge in 1945, John returned to South Dakota and attended college in Huron. He then began working with civil services in Huron until 1952 when he moved to Seattle, Wash., to work with Boeing for a few years. He then went back to work in civil services with the Department of the Interior in Minneapolis, Minn., and the Veterans Administration. John then spent six years working in civil services for the Air Force in Omaha, Neb. After Omaha, John moved to California, where he worked within the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Interior at Folsom Dam, retiring in 1981. John purchased a home in Crooks in 2001. He had been a resident at Avantara in Salem since 2015. He enjoyed camping and traveling.

John is survived by many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Anna Johnson; two sisters, Marie (Art) Larimer and Vivian (Clarence) Hoeltzner; three brothers, Floyd (Luetta) Johnson, Kenneth (Gail) Johnson and William (Wanda) Johnson.