Stephen Johnson

On March 12, 2025, Stephen “Steve” Carl Johnson passed away at home with his family by his side. He had battled non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver for over two years.

Steve was born to Harold and Virginia (Berst) Johnson on March 17, 1940, in Joliet, Illinois. He attended grade school and high school in Lockport, Illinois. After graduating from Lockport High School, he attended Illinois State University where he received his Bachelor of Education Degree in 1962. It was during this time that Steve met Sharon and they started dating. He taught at Washington Junior High in Bloomington, IL, until 1965. While teaching at the junior high school, he also went on to earn his Master of Education at Illinois State University.

On June 13, 1965, he married his partner Sharon Kay Thomas. Near the end of 1965 they moved to Bloomington, Indiana. Steve received his EdD in Media and worked at the film library at Indiana University while starting a family. In 1976, they moved back to Bloomington, Illinois, where Steve worked at Illinois State University. While working at the university, he moved the family to Huntsville, Alabama, so he could teach for one summer at Alabama A&M. He then moved back and worked at the University of Illinois in the media center.

After leaving the media center he started his own business called Job Coach where he helped many people write resumes and learn interviewing skills. While job coaching, he also teamed up with other colleagues to appraise media. During that time he evaluated the Library of Congress Nixon Papers and gave them a monetary value. He always had a way to make people laugh. To promote his business, he would give clients a 60 minute blank tape which represented the blank 60 minutes found on the Nixon tapes. Funny how everyone tried to listen to it before they got the humor. He also was privileged to appraise the Red Skelton memorabilia along with many more interesting items.

Steve and Sharon enjoyed a lot of different experiences in their 65 years together. He enjoyed being around his wife and three children and their spouses: Robert (Elizabeth) Clark of Kissimmee, Florida; Shelley (Shawn) Meagher of Madison, Wisconsin; and Kimberly (Duane) Smith of Hortonville, Wisconsin. He especially liked to go on family vacations and to enjoy the family cabin on Nelson Lake in Hayward, Wisconsin. As mentioned already, one could not take him seriously all the time because he liked to play little jokes on them.

There will be a Celebration of Life at a future date and time yet to be determined.