Terry Johnson

Terry was born March 10, 1938 in Buffalo to James (Jimmie) & Lucille (VanDorn) Johnson. He left this life to be with Jesus on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025, at the age of 87. As a child, Terry attended the Methodist Church with his Grandmother Fern VanDorn. He joined the First Christian Church and was baptized after his marriage to Jackie Harger in the Fall of 1957. Terry attended the Buffalo schools and graduated high school in 1956. During their sophomore year in college, he married a high school classmate, Jackie Harger, on October 12, 1957. They lived in Weatherford, OK, for a couple of years as Terry was a student at Southwestern as it was called back then. Their first son, Scott Dwayne, was born in Clinton, OK. Next, they moved to Stillwater, OK, where Terry finished his Civil Engineering degree at Oklahoma State University. Their daughter, Lisa Diane, was born in Stillwater. Terry was fortunate enough to be hired by the Army Corps of Engineers upon graduation. He was employed with the Corps of Engineers for 35 years. His first job was on the Eufaula dam in Eufaula, OK. When the dam was finished, they moved to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for the Corps where NASA was building a test site for the Skylab space project. A bonus was free tickets for the family to see a space launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Their second son, Shawn Michael was born in Bay St. Louis. The next job for Terry was in Chamberlain, South Dakota, where the Corps was building a dam on the Missouri River between two Sioux Indian reservations. The Pow Wows, rodeos, horse sales and bison sales were popular entertainment. Terry’s next job assignment was in Libby, Montana, on the dam they were building on the Kootenai River. From there the Johnsons moved to North Dakota where the Corps had oversight of the contractors who were building the housing for workers, underground Intercontinental Ballistic Missile sites and a huge building for radar detection--all out in the middle of a big wheat field. The family found the people hospitable, but they had to get used to North Dakota’s constant winter blizzards. When they were ready to move to the next project, Pres. Nixon and Russia’s Brezhnev signed a treaty to freeze ‘offensive strategic weapons’ shutting down the whole project. Terry’s next job was back in Mississippi at the NASA site for a couple years, then came the big 5,000 mile move to Anchorage, Alaska, where Terry worked 19 years as a contract negotiator in the Corp’s District office on Elemendorf Air Force Base. Terry finally got to do all the Alaska fishing and hunting he had dreamed about. He retired in 1993 and we drove back down the Alaska Highway. It was paved and made straighter by then. In 1974, on their way up to Alaska, the road was mostly dirt and curves all the way, but the family and their pets enjoyed camping out each night of the long trip. After Terry spent years remodeling the house his grandparents Van Dorn had willed to us, he started farming the small family wheat farms. He ran Leland Robertson’s spray rig and worked with Leland’s harvest crew. One hot day, at the age of 80, he crawled off his tractor for the last time. He had wanted to farm from the time he was a kid. Terry was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Scott. He is survived by his wife, Jackie, of Buffalo, son Shawn and wife Jodi and grandson, Calin, of Woodward, OK, his daughter, Lisa and husband, Kevin, of Healy, Alaska, their daughter, Carmen of Springfield, Oregon, his adopted daughter, Michelle, and husband, Andrew Sr. of Nashville, TN, their children, Sarah Taylor and husband Ryan, Jessica, Crystal, and Andrew Jr., his great-grand children, Vincent and Anthony, sister-in-law Vicki Harger, Owasso, OK, brother-in-law Jerry Harger and wife Helen of Woodward, OK, nieces, nephews and many cousins. Terry’s family would like to thank his home health nurse, Hailey McLain, for her years of dedicated, excellent care of Terry. Also the Western Skills nursing home staff for all they did for him, as well as the Harper County Community Hospital nurses and Pa-C, Nick, and a brief time with the Hospice folks. We’re very grateful to all of you. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made for the upkeep of the Willard Cemetery PO Box 396

A graveside service at the Willard Cemetery will be held Monday, December 29th, at 2:00 pm., with Pastor Eric Cox of Living Word Fellowship Church, Woodward, OK officiating. Family and friends are welcome.