Clair Johnson

The Rev. Dr. Clair Emery Johnson, age 84 of St. Peter, died at Immanuel Saint Joseph's Hospital on Thursday, December 24, 2009.

Funeral services for Dr. Johnson will be held at First Lutheran Church, St. Peter, at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 30, 2009. A visitation will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 29, at the Saint Peter Funeral Home and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Memorials may be given to Brostrom Endowment Fund for Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College.

Clair Johnson was born on October 5, 1925, in Evansville, Minnesota. His parents were Constant and Hildur Johnson. Pastor Constant Johnson served Lutheran parishes in Evansville and Jamestown, New York, where Clair graduated from high school in 1943. He served from 1943 to 1946 in the United States Army and was stationed in both the European and Pacific theaters. After he completed his military service, he attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he graduated in 1950, a magna cum laude graduate and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Following graduation, he entered Augustana Seminary where he received the Master of Divinity degree. He did post-graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and was granted a Master of Sacred Theology degree and Doctor of Divinity degree from that institution. He was ordained into the Lutheran ministry in 1956.

Clair Johnson and Christine Brostrom were married on January 26, 1956, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. They returned to New York City where Clair served as pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church and continued his graduate work.

In September of 1958, Clair accepted a call to serve Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, as its first chaplain and to teach in the Religion Department. In 1962, he became a full-time professor in the Religion Department and taught until 1995. During his years at Gustavus, he became an avid fan of the Gustie basketball teams, carrying on his interest in sports developed during his own college years at Augustana College where he played baseball and basketball.

During his career at Gustavus, Clair also served as interim pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Judson, Minnesota and chaplain at the Mankato Lutheran Home. He received the Gustavus Faculty Service Award for his volunteer ministry at the Nicollet County Jail. He was given the Covenant Award by Gustavus Adolphus College Association of Congregations in 2004 for contributions which strengthened the partnership between the college and congregations. Dr. Johnson preached in congregations throughout the area, reviewed books for several theological journals and gave presentations on religious topics, especially American religion and the life and work of Martin Luther.

Dr. Johnson is survived by his children: Madeline Claire Johnson and her husband, Jamie Pillers, and their daughter, Lucia, of Oakland, California; and K. Christian Johnson and his wife, Karen Christianson, and their children, Peter and Maja, of St. James, Minnesota. He is also survived by nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Christine Brostrom Johnson, in 1995 and his brother, the Rev. Constant Johnson, in 2005.