Nordis Johnson

Funeral services were held Thursday, June 11, 2009 at Niewoehner Funeral Home in Rugby for Nordis Audrey Johnson, 86, who died Saturday, June 6 at the Heart of America Medical Center.

Burial was in Union Cemetery, Bantry.

Nordis was born on Nov. 21, 1922 in Layton Township, McHenry County, the daughter of Edward Robert and Meta Wanda (Erdman) Podoll. She attended Layton Consolidated School for 10 years and graduated from Upham High School in 1941. She entered nurses training after high school and graduated from the Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Rugby in 1944 as a Registered Nurse. She married Earl LaVere Johnson on March 14, 1945 at rural Upham. After their marriage they lived in Gilmore Township, McHenry County, near Bantry. Nordis worked as a nurse at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Rugby from the time she graduated from nurses training until she retired in 1986. She also assisted in the operation of the family ranch and cared for an uncle, Lorenz Erdman, in their home. Earl died on July 24, 2003. Nordis moved to the Harold S. Haaland Home in March, 2006 and the Heart of America Medical Center Long Term Care Unit in November, 2007.

She was a member of the Faith Lutheran Church in Towner; the Good Samaritan Hospital Nurses Alumnae Association, the Peace Garden District of the North Dakota State Nurses Association and the Gilmore Homemakers Club. She was recognized by the NDSNA as Nurse of the Year and by the hospital for 46 years of dedicated service.

She is survived by a son, Kolin Johnson, Towner; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren; and other relatives.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a brother, Owen; two infant children, a son in 1947 and a daughter, Korela, in 1956.

Rev. Daryl Rothchild officiated. Dianne Montonye was the organist.

Casketbearers were Duane Hartman, Dr. Mavis Hartman, Alan Marshall, Donald Marshall, John Marshall, Carter McBeth and Dr. Perry Nermoe. Honorary bearers were the Good Samaritan School of Nursing Alumnae and the nursing staff of the Heart of America Medical Center.

Memorials are preferred to the Bantry Union Cemetery or North Dakota Nurses Association.

Arrangements by Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby.