Jo Johansen is turning 91-years-young in less than a week…so is Gerald Johansen, and Jerry Johansen, and Sonny Johansen. No, they’re not brothers. These are all the names of the same man, born as Gerald Johansen. It just depends on how and where you know him from how you refer to him.
“My friends call me Jo,” said Johansen, referring to the people who know him from around Eagle Grove. But there are also people from Eagle Grove who know him from his sale barn days who call him Jerry. If you know him from working at Hennigar Construction, then you probably call him Sonny.
“He is a man of many names,” laughed Colleen, his wife of 30 years.
Johansen’s many names are the only interesting things about his 91 years of life. In fact, he has lots of stories to tell that just might catch you off guard. But let’s start at the beginning.
Johansen was born Gerald Johansen on August 29, 1930 in Minnesota. He lived there until he was 10 or 12 years old before moving to a farm in Iowa. He graduated from Chapin High School in Iowa. During his time in high school, he played baseball and basketball. But when an injury kept him from playing, he found something else to do to still be a part of the team. He became a cheerleader.
“I was the only boy (cheerleader) that I remember,” Johansen said with a big grin.
After graduation, he said he went to “The school of hard knocks” when he went to work on the farm full-time, that is, until he was drafted at the age of 19. That’s when he became a member of the Marine Corp.
“It was a pretty good place,” he said matter-of-factly. “I had a lot of fun…but it was also a lot of work.”
He spent time in California, Japan, and Korea. One of his favorite stories from his time in Japan was when they were enjoying a little R&R, and the place to go was to the ice cream shop. You had to take a train to get there, so he and a friend did. The problem was, they missed their train back.
“We laughed forever (about it),” said Johansen fondly.
He also remembers being on the 38th parallel in East Asia for two days. As a member of the Military Police, he was on watch at 3 a.m. He explained how the moon was full and bright. The wind was blowing. That’s when he noticed a shadow, and it looked like it was moving. About 90 minutes later, Johansen finally realized it was the moon’s light shining on a nearby building making the shadow. Oh how he laughed when he remembered that night.
Johansen spent somewhere between two and three years in the Marines before finally returning home to Iowa on the USS General Gordon.
“It’s the biggest ship I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Johansen said that one of his fondest memories before joining the Marines was of his car he bought from his brother-in-law for $2. But don’t be fooled. It cost more than that, just in manual labor. He helped his brother-in-law on the farm for three years before that, so one could say it was an even trade. It was a black Ford V8.
“It was the fastest car from Hampton to Latimer,” Johansen said.
He specifically remembers one Saturday night when a guy came up from behind him and wanted to race, but in his words, “There was no race there.”
He sold that care before he left for the Marines.
Another fact about Johansen that might catch some people off guard is to find out that he spent a night as a rodeo clown at the age of 55. He was at a rodeo in Greeley, Colorado when the rodeo clown got hurt. He filled in for him.
“I outran two bulls that night,” he said proudly.
There’s no doubt Johansen has seen and done a lot in his 91 years here. He is always ready for an adventure…and ice cream.
“The ice cream bar is the best invention in my lifetime,” he said.
In fact, he said there’s always some kind of ice cream treat in his freezer.
While that could be one of the keys to his long life – enjoying the sweeter things in life that is, Johansen credits his 91 years of living to simply “being happy.”
Johansen has five children from his first wife, and has been happily married to Colleen for the last three decades. That means there has been lots of love, laughter, and adventures to go around, making his story a great one to share.
They will be celebrating Jo’s 91st birthday with cake after church this coming Sunday. If you would like to wish him Happy Birthday, please look for the ad in this week’s Eagle.
