Goodbye to my pastor

This week, our community said goodbye to arguably one of the most influential and respected faith leaders in decades here in Dodge County, certainly in my lifetime. Someone my family loved dearly - Pastor Curtis Johnson. Pastor Johnson took on the call to minister at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kasson in 1961, a church that quickly grew into the largest congregation in the county while I was growing up in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.
As a good steward of everything Scandinavian, it’s likely no coincidence that the locally famous annual St. John’s Lutefisk Dinner tradition, which initially was celebrated from 1930 to 1942, was started again during the first years of Pastor Johnson’s ministry in 1962. Pastor Johnson’s passion for this church, his steadfast faith, warm personality, and welcoming preaching style drew families from all over, and no doubt helped make it one of the most successful and longest running congregational events of the area. This event still draws massive numbers today with hundreds of volunteer members preparing and serving around 2,000 people every year – often serving well over 1,600 pounds of lutefisk, over 400 dozen lefse, and all the other delectable fixings. With proceeds going to help synod missions, it’s incredible to think how many thousands of people have benefited from this event and Pastor Johnson’s efforts over the years.
One other quick memory regarding his lutefisk dinners, was the extra patrol requests he would request while I worked part time for the Kasson Police Department early in my career back in the ‘90s. The lutefisk would be delivered to the church and stored behind the church in what looked like metal cattle watering troughs in some top secret, gelatinous, salt and lye combination, covered with wood boards and cinder blocks. We would check on the containers several times a night during our patrols, wondering why the heck anyone would want to steal or eat that stuff! (Full confession, while I couldn’t stand the stuff as a kid and young adult, I have grown to like lutefisk in my older years as long as it’s cooked right.)
So many memories with Pastor Johnson and his church — Sunday school, choir, Summer Bible Camp, tubing trips and other kid’s events. My favorite memories at St. John’s were Pastor Johnson’s amazing candlelight Christmas Eve Services that drew hundreds of worshipers every year. Pastor Johnson was an amazing preacher, always interjected humor in his sermons, and often became emotional teaching us about faith and God’s grace. Over his 34 years of ministry at St. Johns, he touched generations of families.
My story is not unlike many others who grew up at St. Johns. Pastor Johnson baptized me, confirmed me, graduated me, married Rosie and I and baptized our kids. He also married all of my brothers; Todd here in Kasson, Christian in Lanesboro, and even my brother Mark’s wedding in California. He was at the hospital with Rosie and I helping us pray over our middle son Alex who spent his first week on this earth fighting for his life in the ICU. He helped our family when Dad passed away in 2008. He and his wonderful wife Tess, his high school sweetheart prior to being married to him for 67 years, were dear friends of my parents and traveled many times overseas together.
As a young teen, Pastor hired me to mow the yard at St. Johns. As many of you know, that yard is HUGE! Pastor let me strap my boom-box (yes…this was the early ‘80s) on the riding mower so I could have tunes while mowing. When I would finish, he would come out and inspect my mowing and trimming work. He would walk around the building and find every little blade of grass I may have overlooked while trimming, and point them out to me. He always made sure St. Johns looked amazing. Aside from my parents, he was one person I didn’t want to disappoint. Among many other things, I often credit him still today for how particular I have always been about my own yard and trimming.
Lots of tears were shed on his last day preaching at St. John’s to generations of families who had come to dearly love and respect this amazing man. I admit, I struggled for years after he retired trying to find someone to fill that void; an unfair challenge for anyone trying to live up to the only pastor I had known my entire life – a pastor who was such a big part of my family.
Pastor Johnson was always there for us, as he was for every family that attended that church. He would greet everyone after each service with a handshake and his heartwarming smile knowing everyone’s name and their families, hundreds of families. Families who he helped lead and navigate thru every good and bad experience in their lives; from births to marriages, serious illnesses to funerals, and every other challenge in between. He was a loved and extended member of each of these families, an incredibly demanding and daunting responsibility most would never take on, certainly to the degree he did. A responsibility that had to have caused a tremendous amount of cumulative stress over the years, likely contributing to his challenges with heart disease that ultimately took his life last week at the age of 88.
He spent a lifetime being dedicated to not only his family, but everyone else’s family in his church and our community, watching generations of families grow up and grow old - laughing, crying, hurting, and praying for so very many people. Equally deserving of recognition is his wonderful wife Tess who he credited for his long successful career – an amazing person in her own right who endured all of these challenges as well for decades while supporting her husband, her best friend, our pastor.
When I think of Pastor Johnson, the first few words that come to mind are faith, truth, honor, passion, respect, dedication, and selflessness – we loved him dearly. I smile every time I think about him. He was…and will always be my pastor!
May God Bless Tess, their kids Charis and Steve, their grandkids, and great grandkids while they celebrate the amazing life of this great man, and may they find peace in knowing that through the years he made an incredible impact on hundreds of families – literally thousands of people’s lives were touched by this man during his ministry.
 
Scott Rose is in his second term as the sheriff of Dodge County. He writes for this newspaper regularly.