Virginia R. Johnson - Hendricks, Minnesota

Oct. 17, 1922 – Aug. 27, 2017

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Virginia R. Johnson, 94, of Hendricks, Minnesota, died Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, at the Hendricks Community Hospital.  

Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Wood Lake Lutheran Church in rural Astoria.  Visitation is 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday at the Houseman Funeral Home-Birk Chapel in Hendricks with a prayer service at 7 p.m.  Visitation will resume one hour prior to the service at the church.  Burial will be at the church cemetery.  Houseman Funeral Home-Birk Chapel of Hendricks is entrusted with the arrangements.

Virginia Ruth (Esping) Johnson was born Oct. 17, 1922, to Herman and Gusta (Bakken) Esping on the family farm near Taunton, Minnesota, the ninth of 11 children. She was baptized and confirmed at Hope Lutheran Church in Minneota, Minnesota.  Virginia attended rural school in Yellow Medicine County.  She attended high school in Canby, Minnesota.

Virginia married Elmer Leonard Johnson of Astoria on Jan. 3, 1942, at the Hendricks parsonage.  They had three children:  DeWayne, Cynthia and Dennis. Elmer and Virginia spent the majority of their married life farming in Lincoln County, Minnesota.  In 1997 they retired and moved to Hendricks.

 Virginia was a lifelong member of Wood Lake Lutheran Church.  In her earlier years she was a member of the ladies aid, altar guild, board of education and she taught Sunday school.  Virginia was a homemaker, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.  She enjoyed doing crossword puzzles and feeding hummingbirds.  

 Virginia has resided in the Hendricks Nursing Home since May 2015.    

 She is survived by her children:  DeWayne Johnson of Hendricks, Dennis (Joy) Johnson of Cheyenne, Wyo., and Cyndy Gylling of Sioux Falls; five grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; her brother, Herman Jr. (Doreen) Esping and many nieces and nephews.

 She was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, Elmer Johnson; son-in-law, Paul Gylling; great-granddaughter, Brooke Gerdes; brothers, Erwin, Olaf and Ordell; sisters, Ione, Margaret, Hazel, Cecelia, Henrietta, and Olena.