{"id":46388,"date":"2026-09-07T06:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T11:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=46388"},"modified":"2026-09-07T06:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T11:54:45","slug":"michael-mike-johnson-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/michael-mike-johnson-69\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael \u201cMike\u201d Johnson, 69"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Strandquist \u2013 Michael \u201cMike\u201d Johnson, 69, of Strandquist, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at his residence with his loving family by his side.
\nMichael James Johnson was born on November 8, 1956, to Ole and Gladys (Foster) Johnson in Thief River Falls. He was baptized and confirmed into the Lutheran faith. He attended Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls.
\nIn 1974, he joined the United States Navy and was Honorably Discharged. In 1978, he married Debbie LeBlanc, a union to which two sons were born, Joshua James and Joseph Ole. He also gained a step-daughter, Babette LeBlanc.
\nOn December 21, 1992, he married the love of his life Leone Garthus Skadsem. He then helped raised two more sons like his own, Corey and Craig Skadsem.
\nMike and Leone bought their home by Strandquist in 1995 where they currently lived. They enjoyed having horses for many years. They now currently had some cows that they enjoyed taking care of together. Mike held many different jobs throughout his life, he retired from his own plumbing and heating business, Johnson Plumbing & Heating.
\nHe could do just about anything and was always there to lend a helping hand to those in need. At a young age, he learned about responsibility helping care for his family, as his father traveled for work and his mother was ill. He was a very independent and prideful man who enjoyed 36 years of sobriety.
\nHe is survived by his wife, Leone of 34 years; sons, Joe and Josh Johnson of Brainerd, Corey Skadsem (special friend, Mandi Olberg of Thief River Falls) of Strandquist; Craig Skadsem (Megan) of Karlstad; grandchildren, Lily Hockstedlar of Grand Forks, ND, Gage Skadsem of Newfolden, Kayci, Kylee, Kooper, Kashtin and Kaden of Karlstad; sister, Holly Hoy (Leonard) of Roosevelt; sisters-in-law, Marion Johnson and Jody Lunke; brother-in-law, Miles Garthus (Val) of Warroad; mother-in-law, Carol Garthus of Holt; and several nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
\nHe was preceded in death by his parents, Ole and Gladys Johnson; sister, Christy Stensrud; brother, Bruce Johnson; brothers-in-law, Lester Stensrud and Don Lunke; sister-in-law, Amber Garthus; father-in-law, Jay Garthus; and his grandparents.
\nVisitation was held on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at Nazareth Lutheran Church in Holt with Russ Steer officiating. Burial was in the Holt Cemetery. Military honors were provided by Otto Knutson American Legion Post 427, Middle River American Legion Post 444 and United States Navy Honor Guard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strandquist \u2013 Michael \u201cMike\u201d Johnson, 69, of Strandquist, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at his residence with his loving family by his side. Michael James Johnson was born on November 8, 1956, to Ole and Gladys (Foster) Johnson in Thief River Falls. He was baptized and confirmed into the Lutheran faith. He… Continue reading Michael \u201cMike\u201d Johnson, 69<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[15],"tags":[827,748,801,304,2234,3028,10702,824,825,1862,569],"class_list":["post-46388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits","tag-falls","tag-johnson","tag-michael","tag-mike","tag-northern","tag-official","tag-page","tag-river","tag-thief","tag-times","tag-watch","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49238,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46388\/revisions\/49238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}