November 18, 2025

Linn County News

Published November 19, 2025

Donald E. Johnson, 85, passed at home after a battle with pancreatic cancer on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. Don was the youngest of five born in Blue Mound, Kan., to William McKinley and Alma Ida Tinsley Johnson. He attended Blue Mound schools, and graduated from Blue Mound High School in 1958. He married his wife of 66 years, Ruth “Ann” Cosens Johnson, in 1959. 

Don and Ann moved to Wichita, Kan., where Don attended Kansas State School of Barbering, and Ann spent her days watching daytime soaps, eating chocolates, and drinking Coca-Cola, and her evenings helping him study for tests. After graduation, the couple moved to Ottawa, Kan., where Don completed his apprenticeship. He then purchased the barber shop in Humboldt, Kan., in 1962 where they moved and settled into business ownership and raising a family. In 1974, with the anticipation of baby number three, in an era of long-hair styles and fewer buzz cuts, Don closed the shop and began his career of 30 years at The Monarch Cement Company.

In his free time, Don could be found on horseback, playing a guitar, hunting, working on vehicles and projects, and cheering on kids and grandkids at just about every sport and event you can imagine. The couple built their home in rural Humboldt in 1997 with the help of friends and family, and so many Monarch buddies who donated their time and talents to help each other. His grandkids were the highlight of his life, and he loved and snuggled every baby he saw. He was ornery, loved a good joke and never met a stranger. He could also thoroughly cuss a horse that refused to get into the trailer, a cow that wouldn’t stay in the pasture or a frozen water line in the dead of winter.

Don was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Frank Johnson; three sisters, Dorothy (Roy) Spillman, Betty (Lloyd) Spillman, and Lela Ann (Russ) Spillman.

Don is survived by his wife, Ann, of the home; sons Tom (Angela) Johnson and Tim (Kristy) Johnson; and daughter Kimberly (Craig) Baldwin; eight grandchildren, Jake Johnson, Allie (Devin) Gregg, Colby (Audrey) Johnson, Reid (Alex) Barnett, Cael (Libby) Johnson, Ava Baldwin, Annika Baldwin, Audrey Baldwin; and four great-grandchildren, Kylinn, Tytin, Kyzer, and Charlotte, sister-in-law Bonnie Johnson; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorial service will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at the Schneider Funeral Home, Mound City Chapel. Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at the Mound City Chapel. Memorial contributions are suggested to Masonic Lodge Hebron #314.