Iron Range Democrat Mother of 10 Passes Away At Age 86

Iron Range Democrat and mother of 10 (some were Republicans), Ruby Johnson, 86, of Golden Valley, passed away peacefully at home with her family after a long illness. She died on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013.

Ruby’s parents were immigrants from Finland and settled in Hibbing where her father John Alfred worked at the Hull-Rust mine, losing his life in an accident in 1945. At the time, her sister Hedy was serving in the OSS in Sweden and her brother Hedley serving as a tail gunner in the South Pacific. 

After graduating from Hibbing High School and Hibbing Junior College, Ruby moved to Minneapolis working for the American Petroleum Institute before marrying Vince Johnson, a young attorney and Air Corps veteran and began her new life as wife and mother. 

Ruby was a very passionate participant in a number of causes and longtime weekly volunteer for the League of Catholic Women, Loaves and Fishes as well as serving as an election judge, community organizer and social justice promoter. Ruby and Vince took in Hmong refugees in their home after the fall of Vietnam. Ruby lived the Sermon on the Mount and shepherded her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to do the same.

Ruby was an avid downhill skier and an even more avid reader.  She put up with a number of her children’s adventures including guest roles in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

She is survived by spouse of 61 years, Vincent; daughters Paula (Len), Karen T., Barbara (Ron) and Bonnie; sons Patrick (Mary), Allen (Sue), Joseph, Thomas, Timothy (Katrina) and Ted (Stewart), as well as nieces and nephews including Janet, Mark and David Johnson; 18 grandchildren, including Tracee (Sri), Katie (Jesse), Natalie (Justin), Eva (John), Jesse (Lori), Alex, Emily (David), Jamie (Jim), Alicia, Chalice, Tommy, Nikolet, Jackie, Emma, Moritz, Chamonix, Brighton and Soleil; five great-grandchildren, Ruby, Eleanor, Aiden, Brody and Beckett.

Private interment. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to Catholic Charities.

A visitation is 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at Gearty-Delmore Robbinsdale Chapel, 3888 West Broadway in Robbinsdale. A funeral service is at 11 a.m. at the Church of St. Margaret Mary, 2301 Zenith Ave. N. in Golden Valley.

(Information provided by Gearty-Delmore online.)http://www.gearty-delmore.com/obituaries/detail?id=901