Rev. Clarence Johnson, 76
Plummer -
Rev. Clarence J. Johnson, 76, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church,
Plummer, and Ebenezer Lutheran Church, rural Oklee, died Tuesday, May
30, 2000 
at MeritCare
Hospital in Fargo, N.D.
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 3, at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls with Bishop Arlen Hermodson, Rev. Galen Sylvester and Rev. Marcia Sylvester officiating. Joyce Halbasch was the organist, and special music was provided by area pastors and their families. Casketbearers were Art Fossum, Merlin Carlson, Merle Jesme, Norman Brenna, Vincent Lundeen, Monte Haugen, Lester Vad and Orlan Stolaas. The family considered all those who worshiped with Pastor Clarence as honorary casketbearers. Interment was in Rose Hill Cemetery at Thompson, Iowa on Monday, June 5. The Green Funeral Home of Thief River Falls was in charge of the arrangements.
Clarence James Johnson was born on July 31, 1923 near Watrous, N.D. in Merrill township of Hettinger county, the son of John M. and Christiana (Heieren) Johnson. He was baptized on September 16, 1923 at Long Butte Lutheran Church and confirmed at the Lutheran church at Mott on May 1, 1938. He attended school in Mott, graduating as valedictorian from Mott High School in 1941. From 1946 until 1948, Clarence farmed near Mott. He also attended Concordia College in Moorhead for two years before attending the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis for one year and then returning to Concordia, graduating in 1954. He then entered Luther Seminary in St. Paul and was ordained in 1958.
On September 1, 1957, Clarence was united in marriage to Alice Ullestad at Bethany Lutheran Church in Thompson, Iowa. The Johnsons ministered in several parishes, including a three-point parish in Landa, N.D. They then moved to western Montana where Clarence served the Plains and Thompson Falls parishes and later moved to eastern Montana where he served a three-point parish at Larslan. The family then moved to Clermont,Iowa where he served a two-point parish from 1966 to 1978. From Iowa, they moved to Grafton, N.D. where he served as chaplain and assistant nursing home administrator at Lutheran Sunset Home. In 1982, they moved to St. Donatus, Iowa to serve a two-point parish until 1987 when Clarence accepted a call to Plummer where he has since served Immanuel Lutheran Church in Plummer and Ebenezer Lutheran Church, rural Oklee.
Survivors include his wife, Alice of Plummer; one daughter, Carol (husband John Anderson) Johnson of Tulsa, Okla.; one son, David (Yolanda) Johnson of Overland Park, Kan.; one granddaughter; and one brother, Edgar Johnson of Mott, N.D.
Clarence was preceded in death by one son, James in 1982; his parents; one brother, Raymond; and one sister, Agnes Johnson.
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