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Our Mom, our Minnesota Angel, Helen "Joanne" Johnson, age 94, began eternal life on May 11, 2026.  On December 9, 1931, she was born in the family home in the township of Corona (Mahtowa, MN) to John Francis and Charlotte Nesbitt Grimm and named Cecelia Helen.  Charlotte died in 1933; at age 5 ½, Cecelia was adopted by Joe and Anna Stelmazek and given the name Helen Joanne (Joe + Anna = Joanne). Anna passed away when Joanne was 8. Joanne attended Park Lake School, where she had only one other classmate.  She walked to school with her biological brothers who lived nearby.

After graduating from Barnum High School in 1949, she often worked multiple jobs at a time (cook, housekeeper, psychiatric aide, nanny, and clothing inspector). Then she moved to Iowa where she helped her sister Theresa. This was the first time she got to know her sister who had also been adopted as a child.  She then returned to MN and worked at the Cloquet Wood Conversion Mill C. It was there she met her future husband, Richard Johnson.  They married on May 16, 1953, and raised five children.  From 1976 to 1994, she worked at the Moose Lake Regional Treatment Center as a Human Service Technician Senior.

She joined the Third Order of Secular Franciscans and was professed on May 11, 1981.  Mom was a woman of faith, praying for her family, relatives, and anyone she knew who needed prayer. Mom looked for the good in everyone. Her Catholic faith sustained her through the many losses and challenges she faced. She arose early morning to begin praying and often prayed a rosary. Mass was a priority, and in later years, she watched it daily on EWTN.

Mom was known for her excellent cooking and baking and won many ribbons at the county fair.  She also made and sold jelly and beautiful potholders at craft fairs. Mom volunteered at her children's schools, her church, State Hospital, and Augustana Health Care until she was in her mid-eighties. After our father died in November 2020, she gracefully made the adjustment to widowed life after 67 years of marriage.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Richard, infant brother August, siblings and spouses Theresa (Harold) Robertson, Lawrence (Josie) Grimm, Herbert (Delores) Grimm, and Robert (Helen) Grimm, as well as sisters and brother-in-law Mariane (Paul) Johnson, Walter (Marsha) Johnson, John Renschler and son-in-law David Kreter.

She is survived by her children: John (Tonia) Johnson, Renee Kreter, Steven (Vonda) Johnson, Dianne Johnson, and Shirley (David) Lundblade; 18 grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; 3 great-great-granddaughters; one sister-in-law, Judy Renschler; Goddaughter Leah Robertson, Godson Gene Differding, and many nieces and nephews.

We would like to thank all those who faithfully visited Mom as her health declined, especially Janice Kilgore who came almost daily to pray the rosary with Mom. Special thanks also to all the staff of St. Croix Hospice and the Special Care Unit at Moose Lake Village.

Mom will be remembered for her kind, gentle spirit and smile, which shown brightly through her final days. Mom, as you always said to us, "Love you, and God Bless."

Visitation will be held on Thursday, May14, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Hamlin-Hansen-Kosloski Funeral Home, Moose Lake.  Funeral Mass will be held at Holy Angels Catholic Church, Moose Lake, on Friday, May15, at 2:00 p.m. with visitation one hour prior.

Memorials are suggested to Holy Angels Catholic Church, EWTN or St. Croix Hospice.