Donald Edwin "Swede" Johnson

SIOUX CITY—Don E. ‘Swede” Johnson,
74, of Sioux City, died March 25, 2010, at Countryside Retirement Home in Sioux City.
Memorial Services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Homes, with Rev. Valerie Heller, associate pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial of the cremated remains will be at a later date. Visitation with the family will be one hour prior to the services Tuesday at the funeral home.
Don was born Aug. 3, 1935, in Sioux City, the son of Swen and Dorothy (Vorhaug) Johnson. He graduated from Central High School in 1953. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1954 to 1958. Upon leaving the Coast Guard, he attended the University of South Dakota for two years.
He married Joan Rolfs on April 15, 1970, in Reno, Nev. He originally worked for the Mack Trucking Co., and then worked as a truck seller and buyer for World Wide Metal Parts until his retirement in 2002. He as a lifelong resident of Sioux City.
He was a member of Morningside Lutheran Church. Don was an outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing, boating and was a sports bow hunter. He was also an avid golfer. Don had his pilot’s license and was a corporate pilot. He also raced Corvettes and belonged to the Corvette Club in Omaha, Neb. Don also enjoyed sports and was a big fan of the Green Bay Packers football team as well as the Sioux City Explorers baseball team.
Survivors include his wife, Joan of Sioux City; two sisters, Arleen Johnson of Sioux City, and Shirley Berke and her husband, Merlyn of Anchorage, Alaska; a nephew, Jon Berke of Anchorage; and two nieces, Beth Mastel and her husband, Rick and Ann Berke, all of Anchorage.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a nephew, Scott Berke.
Memorials may be made in his name to Hospice of Siouxland and the June E. Nylen Cancer Center.