Wallace “Wally” Monroe Johnson

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BELLE PLAINE -Wallace "Wally" MonroeJohnson, 85 of Belle Plaine and formerly of Gibbon and Redwood Falls, died Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008, at the Belle Plaine Lutheran Home in Belle Plaine.

Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Gibbon with Pastor Kelly Knox officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery, with graveside military rites conducted by the New Ulm Area Comrades of Valor Honor Guard.

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the time of the service at the church on Thursday.

Minnesota Valley Funeral Home of Gibbon is handling the arrangements.

To leave online condolencesfor the family or to sign theguestbook, go to www.mvfh.org

Wally was born May 31, 1923. He graduated from Gibbon High School in 1941, and attended the University of Minnesota for a short time. Shortly after he went to work for Northwest Airlines, Edmonton, Canada, until he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1943. He served in the Coast Guard as an electronics specialist on a destroyer and was discharged in 1945. He returned to Gibbon to work for C.J. Johnson and Sons, the family business, with his father Elmer and brother Charles.

Wally married Rhoda Odell Glaeser on Sept. 14, 1947. Wally and Rhoda raised 3 children, Nanette, Douglas and Dennis, and later they raised their granddaughter Leah. In 1955 Wally graduated as a trooper for the Minnesota Highway Patrol. He served as one of the first Patrol Safety Education Officers in the State of Minnesota. He was awarded a commendation from Governor Orville Freeman for the speaking programs and materials he developed for school students and for Legionville, the summer camp for school safety students.

Wally retired from the Highway Patrol in 1978; he continued to work after retirement as a dispatcher in the Redwood County Sheriff's Department, a real estate agent, and later as a weather observer at the Redwood Falls airport.

Wally enjoyed carpentry, reading, and puttering in his workshop. He and Rhoda were inseparable for 58 years. They both loved to spend time at the cabin in Ottertail, Minnesota.

Wally was preceded in death by Rhoda, his wife, and Dennis, his son.

He is survived by Dr. Nanette Johnson-Curiskis, daughter, and husband Mr. Janis Curiskis; Douglas, son, and his wife Carol Johnson; Leah Isaak, granddaughter, and her husband Mr. Stacy Isaak; and Randie Johnson, daughter-in-law. Wally has 8 grandchildren.