Kenneth Johnson

Kenneth Leo Johnson, age 78, passed away on January 27, 2025 at his home in Halfway, Oregon.  Born on August 1, 1946 in Gooding Idaho, he was the eldest of ten children of Kenneth Leo Johnson Sr. and Betty Jean (Neale) Johnson.

The family moved to La Grande in the summer of 1951 where his father finished earning his college degree in education at Eastern Oregon College of Education.  He attended elementary school in Baker and Haines and junior high at St. Francis Academy in Baker.  Afterwards, he attended high school in both Ontario and Halfway Oregon. He was a four-sport athlete, student body president, class valedictorian, scholar of the year, and athlete of the year at Pine Valley High School.

After graduating in 1965 he enrolled in Eastern Oregon College with a major in English. In his senior year of college in 1969 he was drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam where he served as a combat medic before being discharged in 1971.  The war was an experience that forever changed his life.

In July 1972 he married Earlene Roumagoux, the love of his life, in the mountains overlooking Pine Valley. They moved to Woodburn, OR where he worked as a carpenter building houses and enrolled in classes at Mount Angel Seminary before the couple moved to British Columbia, Canada.  Over the next decade he continued to hone his skills in building construction and was a master carpenter.  While living in Canada he spent long periods of time working in Inuvik, the largest Northwest Territory town 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

In 1979, Ken and his second wife Jenifer had a daughter Sarah, his only child.  In 1985 he left Takysie Lake and moved back to Halfway to help his mother care for his father prior to his death and remained in the family home until his own death.

As a young man he loved the outdoors, especially fishing, hunting and cross-country skiing. Later in life, woodworking became his true passion, and he was an excellent artisan inscribing his Oregon Knothead logo on many projects. He was always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone and enjoyed sharing his knowledge about woodworking over a game of darts.

Ken was preceded in death by his father [1923-1986] and mother in [1925-2019]. Ken is survived by his daughter Sarah Johnson and her two children; Jackson and  Navianna; nine brothers and sisters; and numerous nieces and nephews.  He will be interred in Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway, OR.  A memorial service will be planned at a future date.

Memorial contributions in honor of Ken may be made to the Halfway Lions Club that his father co-founded through Tami's Pine Valley Funeral Home & Cremation Services PO Box 543 Halfway, Oregon 97834. Online condolences may be made to the family at Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home in Halfway, OR at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com.