Sandra E. Johnson

   Our loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, Sandra Eileen Johnson went home to be with the Lord on Friday February 7, 2020. 

   Memorial Service will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 15, 2020 at the Hawarden Community Center in Hawarden, Iowa with Pastor Cy McMahon officiating. A luncheon will follow the service and inurnment will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Lands Lutheran Cemetery rural Hudson, South Dakota. Visitation with the family will begin at 6:00 p.m. Friday with a Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m. also at the Hawarden Community Center. The Porter Funeral Home in Hawarden is assisting the family. Condolences may be sent to www.porterfuneralhomes.com. Sandra’s family prefers memorials be directed to Wildlife Rehabilitation and Orphaned/Recued Animals.

   She was born June 15, 1962 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was the daughter of Myron “Bud” and Deanna (Gray) Nelson. 

   Sandra graduated from West Sioux High School in 1980 and went on to Northeast Missouri State and became a Certified Veterinary Technician. During her summers, she would work at the family bakery in Hawarden, Iowa, decorating cakes, and enjoyed riding her horses in her free time. Upon graduating college, Sandra’s first job was with the Adel Veterinary Clinic for H.T. Holcomb, whom she worked with for 25 years.  In 2009, she moved back to Hawarden, where she worked at West Sioux Veterinary Clinic.  Sandra married Richard Johnson on June 9, 2012.

    Sandra was a member of Granite Church in Hawarden.  She enjoyed gardening, sewing, raising poultry, traveling, and spending time with family.  Sandra also enjoyed being a Gravesite Guardian-honoring family by decorating local family gravesites.

   Sandra is survived by her husband, Richard Johnson of Hawarden; 3 children, Cassandra Oberembt of Port Angeles, Washington, Kaitlyn Oberembt of Hawarden, and Colby Oberembt of Ankeny, Iowa; 5 step-children, Ashley (John) Schempp of Rogers, Minnesota, Aaron (Holly) Johnson of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, Adam (Amelia) Johnson of Blaine, Minnesota, Andrew (Ciara) Johnson of Algona, Iowa, and Alan Johnson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; 12 grandchildren, Brecken and Autumn Oberembt, Jaidyn and William Schempp, Ronan, Adric, and Eilee Johnson, Grady, Eli, and Emma Johnson, and Augustine and Nevaeh Johnson; her siblings, Glenn Nelson of Hawarden, Duane (Sandi) Nelson of Winterset, Iowa, and Brenda Dekkers of Hawarden; and many nieces and nephews.

   Sandra was preceded in death by her parents Myron “Bud” and Deanna (Gray) Nelson and her infant brother Garry Nelson.