Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 13:49:33 :
Independent Journal
Wednesday, December 12, 1984
Section B, page 4
OVE T. JOHNSON
The graveside service for Ove T. “Blondie” Johnson, who headed many of the Homestead Valley improvement projects, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael.
Mr. Johnson died Sunday at Marin General Hospital after a brief illness. He was 82.
He was a native of Born Holm, an island off the coast of Denmark. Mr. Johnson came to the United States in 1918, first settling in Minnesota. He moved to San Francisco in 1925 and had lived in Homestead Valley since 1939.
Mr. Johnson became involved in community activities almost immediately when a fire destroyed his first home just two months after moving to the valley.
After his family lost all of its possessions in the fire, Mr. Johnson became active in organizing the community’s first fire department to improve protection.
He was also instrumental in founding the Homestead Valley Sanitation District and served on its board of directors. Mr. Johnson was a very active member of the Homestead Valley Improvement Club.
He worked many years as a longshoreman on the docks in San Francisco before retiring in 1972. Mr. Johnson served with Harry Bridges as a member of the original strike committee some 50 years ago.
Mr. Johnson also held a longtime membership of the Danish Brotherhood.
His wife, Ella Johnson, died in 1965.
He is survived by his daughter, Sonja Bath of East Lansing, Mich.; three sisters, Esther Persan, Hilda Kohring and Gerda Andersen, all of Denmark; and three grandsons.
The family prefers that memorial contributions be made to the Marin Chapter of the American Heart Association in San Rafael.
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A Death Notice in the same paper states he was the grandfather of David Bath of Mill Valley, and Ronald and Michael Bath, both of East Lansing, Mich.
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