Mark Oren Johnson was born to Dana and Kathy (Britton) Johnson on May 11th,1971 at 7:49 p.m. He was the third child in a family of all boys.

As a child Mark being the youngest of the 3 boys learned how to be tough as nails but gentle in so many other ways. He loved deeply. He could ignore like no other if he was irritated or just did not want to be bothered.

Mark loved to fish. He was also a gifted swimmer. At 16 he was with his cousins when a mishap landed them in the water of the Kettle River in the spring of the year. Mark was able to open the window get his cousins safely to the bank of the river, bringing one and going back to get the other. This was an act of bravery but mostly one of love. The boys played ball together with most of the town kids at the ball field all summer long. The brothers gave each other bumps, bruises and broken bones but at the end of the day loved one another.

Mark was injured in a motorcycle accident on April 25th, 1989. This accident changed his life. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, causing him to be in a coma for 6 months. Mark was transferred to a head trauma facility where he was for a short time before his father chose to remove him and bring him home to be taken care of there. This was when Mark really began to adore his parents who took care of him with the compassion, love, and the best care anyone could ask for. There were times of adversity and misconceptions which caused Mark to be removed from home in these times. Mark just wanted to be back with his mom and dad in the home where he was loved and cared for. When Mark would see them, he would get so excited and run to greet them.

Mark was tenacious, he did things on his terms his way. He taught himself (with the help of mom and dad) almost everything even to use his other hand as due to seizures he lost a lot of use of his right side. He could drive a stick shift and start a chainsaw which dad learnt the hard way while Mark was in the woods working with him after his accident. Mark was smart and funny especially when he would reach up and pinch moms' nose when she was caring form him. When Mark played solitaire, he did that his way too. He loved to watch wrestling and any action flick. Kiss and AD / DC were his favorites. He liked to draw and of course with his love of Fords he drew them often and very well. He was a Vikings and Twins fan through and through. He would f i ght you for his hat of which he had many.

Mark attended PHASE after his accident where he touched the hearts of many staff and participants. Mark really enjoyed his paycheck. He would show it to anyone who wanted to see it or not and with many expletives that he has a lot of.... Money" then say see as he showed his check stub "three and three and three and three, followed by 5 zeros and then he would say and two more". Mark then would tell them I am going to buy a Ford truck just like my dad's. Many times, someone would joke and say how about buying a car? again expletives "no, cars are junk" if you mentioned Chevy to him, he would wrinkle his face and do a thumbs down and with more expletives to let you know just what he thought of Chevy. Mark also gained notoriety often wherever he went he whipped up his shirt to show his incision scar and tell folks "I was dead they killed me" which may have been true as on one of many hospitalization s / surgeries he really did code and was brought back. It was after that he was sure that he died.

To sum it up Mark was handed a crappy hand in the card game of life but never gave up, he fought a fight most of us would have surrendered to. He managed to overcome and make it through bringing so much joy to those of us who were fortunate enough to be touched and loved by him.

Mark will be missed but missing him means we loved him!

Mark is survived by his mother and father, brother Scott Johnson of Bruce Wisconsin.

Mark is preceded in death by his brother James "Jimmy" Johnson;, paternal grandparents, Oren and Bonnie Johnson; maternal grandparents, William and Margaret Britton; uncles, Jerry and Larry Johnson;, aunt Cindy (Johnson) Schleret and uncle Kenny Schleret and cousin Gary Johnson Jr.

A visitation is planned for Mark on Saturday, October 22, 2022 from 3pm to 5 pm at the Methven Funeral Home chapel. Burial will take place later at Lakeview Cemetery in Rutledge, MN.

Arrangements by Methven Funeral and Cremation Services of Sandstone, MN.