Shirley L. Johnson

          Shirley L. Johnson, 89, of Dannebrog died Monday, November 21, 2016 at Rose Lane Nursing Home in Loup City.

          Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Dannebrog.  Reverends Sheri Lodel and Bryan Galloway will officiate.  Inurnment will be in Oakridge Cemetery in Dannebrog.

          Visitation will be on Friday, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the church in Dannebrog.

          Memorials are suggested to Dannebrog Hike and Bike Trail, Ascera Care Hospice or Rose Lane Nursing Home.

          Jacobsen-Greenway Funeral Home in St. Paul is assisting the family.

          Mrs. Johnson was born December 7, 1926 in Dannebrog to Peter and Dora (Due) Nielsen.

          Shirley was raised in Dannebrog and received her education at District #13 and then Dannebrog High School. 

          She was a Civil Service employee at Second Air Force Base in Grand Island and Sioux City following her high school graduation.  After World War II, she was employed at Union Central Life Insurance Co. in Grand Island.

          Shirley was united in marriage to Ray Johnson on September 28, 1947 in Dannebrog.

          Shirley was a joint owner with her husband in retail businesses in Dannebrog for 49 years until her retirement in 1996.

          She enjoyed sewing, playing bridge, and being involved in community programs to promote culture and history in Dannebrog.  Since 1985, she had taken a leadership role in promoting Dannebrog’s Danish heritage, tourism, festivals and community improvement projects.  She was instrumental in identifying Dannebrog as the Danish Capital of Nebraska at the State Legislature in 1989.

          Shirley is a member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Dannebrog and the church’s Naomi Circle, a charter member of the Dannebrog Area Booster Club, the Loup Basin RC & D Tourism Committee and she was given the honor to be an Admiral of the Nebraska Navy.

          Survivors include her husband, Ray of Loup City; two daughters and sons-in-law, Marcia and Bill McDonald of Rockville and Sandra and Steve Hoke of Omaha; a son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Kerry Johnson of Chadron; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Dorothy Nielsen of Lincoln and a brother-in-law, David Appel of Council Bluffs. 

          She is preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Donald Nielsen.

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