Chris Allen Johnson

Chris Johnson, a kind and caring person, passed away the morning of June 19th after a very painful episode of bone cancer in his spine. His loving wife, Dianne, was by his side to the end.

Chris and Dianne met through a mutual love of horses. In their 37 years of marriage, they had many trail rides and other wonderful adventures. The most special, was the birth of their son Erik. Chris loved being a father, sharing his enthusiasm for cars right from the very beginning. Chris loved sports car driving and owned a 1977 Fiat X19. He and Erik raced RC cars and go karts. As a family, they traveled to the Oregon coast, the Redwoods, many other places in California and had three trips to Europe to visit their AFS exchange son, Joeri and his family. They also traveled to islands in the Caribbean on Windjammer sailing trips .

Chris had 23 years in broadcast television as a Master Control operator. He worked for channel 6 and channel 22 KBSP in Salem Oregon. When his job was eliminated by computer technology, he took a preschool teaching job at.Bud to Blossom (Treehouse). He had a fabulous time working with the children, reading stories, and doing take apart days. He was a great male role model for many children. For years, families in Salem, would recognize him in all sorts of places, calling out to him “Teacher Chris!”

Chris grew up in Puyallup Washington. After graduating from Puyallup High School , he worked at Mount Rainier and later made two trips to Europe with friends. Besides travel, Chris, loved photography , horseback riding, birding, reading mystery novels, posting to Facebook and walking his beloved golden retrievers.

He is survived by wife, Dianne, son, Erik, mother, Shirley, sister, Karen Smith, brother, Keith, and Clay as well as many nephews and nieces.

His fun sense of humor and his calm approach to life will be missed by many.

Private service to be determined.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to : Horses Adaptive Riding and Therapy at hartadaptiveriding.org