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► In Memory ♥♥

Lee Johnson

Lee Johnson

 
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06/09/17 10:39 PM #1    

Phil Nelson

Lee Fronk Johnson

Obituary

Guest Book

8 entries

  • "Lee's good natured wit and kindness will be missed. Many..."
  • "I am so grateful for the bond of friendship Lee and I had,..."

    - Perry

  • "I will always remember Lee's kindness and smiling face. He..."

    - Debbie Stout

  • "My heart breaks for Lee's family. I'm so very sorry for..."
  • "Lee was one of the good ones at BPA. He will be missed."

    - Rick Itami

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Johnson, Lee Fronk 66 12/27/1944 03/21/2011 Lee Johnson, a master carver of wood and creative teller of tales, died March 21, 2011, of brain cancer. He was 66. Born Dec. 27, 1944, in Brigham City, Utah, the second of seven children, he was the first to attend and graduate from college. At Utah State University he was an art major who discovered literature as a second passion and writing as his ticket to a professional life. He married Mary Lou while they were still in college. He served a year in Vietnam as a U.S. Army first lieutenant, feeding feature stories from the field into the division's newspaper. Known for embellishing his stories with irony and a healthy dose of creative license, one of his features on two airmen from Georgia was so good that "Stars and Stripes" picked it up as well as network television. Johnson spent his professional life in government, working as a writer, public relations guy and lobbyist, beginning in Seattle with the Environmental Protection Agency and then with the U.S. Department of Energy. He finished his government career with the Bonneville Power Administration, which took him to Washington, D.C., and ultimately, to Portland. In retirement he turned his woodworking hobby into a business, creating reproductions of fine period furniture through extensive research and the use of old-fashioned hand tools. He was a completely self-taught artisan who shared his passion by teaching others through his affiliation with the Oregon Woodworkers Guild. Lee "Fronk" Johnson will be remembered as a well-read, talented man whose entertaining humor never undercut his kindness to all. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Mary Lou of Portland; daughters, Heather Clish of Reading, Mass.; Alicia Salge of Oakland, Calif.; and Sara Houston of Welches; and grandchildren, Jackson and Mason Clish, Bergen Fronk Salge and Morchella Houston. A "box wine social" remembrance will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at the Architectural Heritage Center, 701 S.E. Grand Ave., Portland. For more information, check http://fronkshealth.blogspot.com.

 

 

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