Louie Eugene Johnson

Lowell “Louie” Johnson, 72 years old, died Friday, July 19, 2013, surrounded by his loving family and friends, after a brief but courageous battle with a very aggressive lung cancer. He was born December 27, 1940, in Minneapolis, MN, the second of five brothers, to Osten and Esther (Olson) Johnsen (“Ma and Pa”). He spent his younger years growing up in North Dakota, moving around to various small towns that they lived in while his dad worked for the railroad. He graduated High School in Kildeer N.D. and after being discharged from the Army, serving his duty in Germany, he attended UND where he graduated with an Accounting Degree.

Louie married Linda Nelson in 1966 and soon followed the birth of their only child, Jeffrey, that same year. They were married until 1998. They created many great memories together traveling, flying, jet skiing, snowmobiling, skiing, and riding Harley’s together. Some of the best memories were following Jeff’s athletic success through high school and college where they became part of the NDSU Bison family. A little adjustment for Louie as a UND graduate, but he was proud to be a part of both.

While attending UND and working several jobs to pay his way through college, he fell in love with flying airplanes. This became a passion that followed him the rest of his life and one that he later shared with his son Jeff. Starting out in his first Aeronca L3 Defender, he spent thousands of hours of his free-spirited life soaring the beautiful blue skies, and also many flights that were not in blue skies, challenging the best of pilots. Aviation was just one of the areas where his persistence, attention to detail, acute intelligence, and pursuit of perfection guided him to success.

After graduating college in 1970, he started working for Butler Machinery where he was a salesman, promotion manager, and company pilot. Later, his entrepreneurial mind led him to start his own construction company, Johnson Construction, in 1975. His intuitive, aggressive, “can do” attitude led him to become one of the leading contractors in the Tri-State area. This carried over in 1989 when his dream and vision of sharing this passion with his son, Jeff, started Dakota Underground. Louie shared all of these attributes with Jeff and together they strived to be the BEST. The quality of the employees and workmanship in their company is a direct reflection of his hard work ethic and pursuit of perfection.

In Lori’s words: On January 30th, 1999, I met Louie, the man of my dreams, in Scottsdale Arizona. I knew within hours of meeting him that we would get married someday. On June 7th, 2005, we wed in Sedona, Arizona, amongst the Red Rock Canyons. My life with Louie has been filled with happiness and joy, and we have been a blessing to one another in many ways. He will always be my best friend, my love, my soul mate, and my husband. I am proud to be his wife and, more importantly, a member of his beautiful family. In Jeff’s words: Lori added a new dimension to Louie’s life and their love was evident to everyone they knew. This love quickly transferred through to all of his family and hers where they enjoyed many family times and created memories to last. They spent the rest of his life enjoying flying, Harley’s, traveling, going to movies, sharing times with great friends, and of course Red Devil and Sammy’s Pizza on Sundays. He was definitely a creature of habit!

Over the years, Louie touched many people in many different ways. He inspired many of them to do great things, both with him and on their own. He was very driven and pushed hard, but always with a BIG heart. The one he touched the most was his son Jeff. They shared a relationship few have experienced. Working together and playing together, this love never waivered. Every parting, phone call, or conversation ended with “I love you”. Sometimes that was all the call was for! “My dad, my hero, my mentor, my best friend, I will always love you!”

His love of family and friends, his free-spirited love for life and adventure, his drive for knowledge and success, will be missed by all of those who he touched. The world is a better place because of Louie and it feels a little lonely without him. But, if you need to see him, look to the blue sky to see his infectious smile and a quick wink from his beautiful blue eyes.

Louie was preceded in death by his parents, Osten and Esther; and his brother, Art. He is survived by his wife, Lori, his brothers, Arnold, Raymond (Rachel), Danny (Arlene), sister-in-law Debbie, his son Jeff and daughter-in-law, Kristi, and grandchildren, Katie, Lacie, Halle, and Jacob.

Louie's video tribute can be viewed at http://www.philpetersonproductions.com/hr-memorials.htm