Harry Leroy Johnson
Harry Leroy Johnson
An athlete most of his life, Harry played basketball, football
and pole vaulting at Gooding Junior High. At Fairfield High School he played
basketball and football. He served as captain of the football team in his
senior year when the team was Idaho State Champion. Harry graduated high school
in 1952 and entered what was then Ricks College in Rexburg on a football
scholarship and also played basketball.
In 1953, Harry enrolled at Grimms Business College in
Pocatello where he met Marilyn Fladeland, whom he married that year. In May
1953, Harry was inducted into the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed at Keesler
Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, for radio school. Afterward, Harry was
stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska, not then a state. His
next station in 1954 was at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California.
Harry returned to Pocatello after his discharge in 1957.
In Pocatello, Harry gave his life to Jesus and entered a
lifetime of service to his Lord and Savior.
In 1961, Harry and his family moved to Boise where he became
a computer programmer and then a systems analyst for the Idaho Power Company.
He joined the Highlands Baptist Church in Boise and during an evangelism
meeting in 1964 he said, “God spoke to me and called me to preach.” The following
Sunday, Harry began preaching at Highlands and preached every Sunday for the
next year.
Harry became bivocational, working at Idaho Power and
preaching. Over the next 50 years, he filled the pulpits in nearly every one of
the 27 churches and missions in the Treasure Valley Association of Southern
Baptist churches from New Meadows to Gooding.
Harry retired from Idaho Power in 1989 and began serving as
full-time pastor at the First Southern Baptist Church of Nampa in 1990. He also
served as the chaplain at the old Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise for a year.
He helped start the Emanuel Southern Baptist Church in Mountain Home and stayed
on as pastor for three years until membership had grown to 200 members.
After retirement, Harry became an avid golfer and, when not
working part-time in the pro shop, he could be seen on the course.
Harry was preceded in death by his wife Marilyn in 2001. He
is survived by two sisters, Elaine Bartlome of Nampa, and Hazel Clark of Twin
Falls. He also is survived by two children: Ron L. Johnson and wife Kathy of
Moscow, Idaho, and Becky J. Poore and husband Ralph of Boise. He also is
survived by four grandchildren and their families: Jason J. Reddy, wife Amanda
and children Ava J. and Lucas J. of Meridian, Idaho; Kimberly J. Brown, husband
Derek and children Owen and Penelope of Warsaw, Indiana, Brian Dulin, wife
Michelle and daughter Abbie of Moscow, Idaho; and Ralph E. Poore III of
Rockville, Maryland. In addition, he is survived by numerous nieces and
nephews.
The family wants to thank the staff of Emerson House at
River Pointe assisted living center in Garden City and of Signature Hospice for
their kind and loving care of Harry in his final days.
A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, December 6, at
10:30 a.m. at Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel, Boise. A graveside service with
military honors will follow at Morris Hill Cemetery.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Harry Leroy Johnson, please visit our flower store.
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