Dorothy Ann Johnson

Memorial Service: https://vimeo.com/942455087

Tribute Video: https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/MF775LNRHN2M9WYL

Dorothy Johnson, Fargo, ND, 92, died on February 26, 2024 at Fargo Elim.

Dorothy Ann Levine was born in Marquette, MI on April 10, 1931 to Gus and Lydia (Berg) Levine. She graduated from Graveraet High School and attended Northern Michigan State University. She graduated from The Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, MN in 1953.

While in Minneapolis, she met Don Johnson and on August 29, 1953 they were married at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette, MI. They moved to Moorhead, MN where she worked at the Fairmont Creamery and Don attended Concordia College. In 1958, they moved to Fargo, ND where she supported Don as he and his partner, Mel Skarphol, started and ran the chain of Don's Car Washes that grew to include plants in Fargo, Moorhead, Minneapolis, and Billings, MT. The car washes were sold in 1987.

The Johnsons enjoyed their cabin on Bad Medicine Lake, Ponsford, MN for fifteen years and their winter home in Peoria, AZ for fourteen years. While in Peoria, Dorothy was inspired by an article in the Phoenix newspaper about a woman who had sewn dresses for underprivileged girls and Dorothy started her own sewing project. From 1998 to 2011, she sewed 455 dresses. In addition to the hundreds of dresses she gave to girls in the Phoenix area, she gave many more dresses to girls from the YWCA shelter and the Village in Fargo-Moorhead. The best part, to Dorothy, was the wonderful support she got from over forty caring and generous friends who shopped for accessories, such as hats, shoes, socks, and underwear, to go along with the dresses.

Dorothy loved Jesus and her plan was to serve Him by working in a church after graduating from LBI. God's plan was for her to serve Him through her marriage, raising her children, being involved in church through Circle and making quilts, and especially by forming her own ministry by involving her friends in her dress project. We are thankful she trusted in God's plan.

Dorothy is survived by daughter Nancy Warwood, Bozeman, MT, son David (Debi) Johnson, Boise, ID, and daughter Peggy (Bruce) Stordahl, Fargo, grandson William (Nicole) Warwood, Bozeman, MT, grandson Jordan (Casey) Warwood, Philadelphia, PA, granddaugher Kristin Johnson, Boise, ID, and grandson James (Allison) Johnson, St. Paul, MN, great grandsons, Kamden and Ashton, great granddaughter Mackenzie, and great grandson, Jackson, and brother Gordon Levine, Duluth, MN. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Don, daughter Marie Grey, sister Ruth Garn, and brother Richard Levine.

In 2005, the Johnsons, along with some family members and friends, started a non-profit organization called Wellspring for the World, whose goal is digging wells in the arid regions of Africa. The well digging is done by World Vision. Memorials to this organization would be appreciated: Wellspring for the World, PO Box 9993, Fargo, ND 58106.