A Celebration of Life Service for Philip “James” Johnson III, age 29, of Volga, South Dakota, formerly of Windom will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, at the First Baptist Church in Windom with Pastor Gary Wiens officiating. Burial will be held at a later date.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 4, at the LaCanne Family Funeral Home, in Windom, and one-hour prior to the service at the church in Windom on Wednesday.
Philip “James” Johnson III was born July 27, 1992, to Buckwheat and Sonya Johnson in Windom, Minnesota.
He attended Winfair School and Windom Area High School, graduating in 2010. James went on to attend Hennepin Technical College to learn Firefighting and EMT.
James went back to school to attend South Dakota State University in 2013. While in college, he went to work at Rainbow Play Systems and SDSU Parking Services in Brookings, South Dakota.
When Rainbow Play Systems closed, he went on to work at Larson Manufacturing. James graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in Business Economics with a minor in Entrepreneurship in 2018. After graduation, James was offered a full-time position at Larson Manufacturing as the second shift Operations Supervisor, and eventually became an Inventory Specialist.
James and Megan were united in marriage on May 26, 2018, in Brookings, South Dakota.
With his EMT training he joined the Lennox, South Dakota Ambulance Service as an EMT. He would work weekends and was their secretary. He enjoyed the work and the challenge of the job. Living in Volga, South Dakota, he joined the Volga Fire Department where he was a truck co-captain and training officer.
He is survived by his wife, Megan Johnson of Chamberlain, SD; his parents-in-law, Chris Reitsma Lau and Ben Lau of Kimball, SD; parents, Buckwheat and Sonya Johnson of Windom; sister Vicki (Chris) Severn of Bethlehem, PA; Christa (Nate) Cole of Burnsville, MN; and sister Karen Johnson of Tokyo, Japan. He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
He is preceded in death by grandparents Phil and Verona Johnson, grandparents Arden and Connie Johnson, father-in-law Kurt Reitsma, aunt Sandi Lanie, and cousin Megan Sivahop.
