Linda Jill Johnson was born Feb. 8, 1952, in Idaho Falls, to Patricia Mae (Leach) Johnson and William Eugene Johnson. She was their first child. She was a blue baby, born with a congenital heart defect that left her out of breath after walking across a room. She died at her Lewiston home at 72 on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024.
She had experimental open-heart surgery in San Francisco in 1959 and again in 1960. She struggled to catch-up in school, and it did not come easy for her, but she loved learning, and until just a few years ago, she could recite her seventh-grade French lessons. She graduated from Lewiston High School in 1970. She always wanted to be a veterinarian. She was the family historian, able to remember dates and details the rest of us couldn’t. She had a devastatingly quick wit.
She had an amazing life. When she turned 5, she wanted two things for her birthday: nail polish and a logging truck. She camped and fished for smallmouth bass on Dworshak Reservoir, fished for steelhead on the Clearwater River and hunted for elk. She rode a camel, an elephant in a circus and drove dump trucks and long-haul semis. Her CB handle was Miss Adventure, spelled with one S or two, depending on the circumstances. She spent most of her working life as a surgical technologist, assisting with surgeries in hospitals in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
She returned to Lewiston and married Raymond Harrington on Oct. 25, 2003, and later retired from Tri-State Hospital. During the three years she and Raymond lived on their property outside Juliaetta, they spent nights in a tent from early summer through the fall listening to owls and coyotes and the deer in the orchard eating apples just a few feet away.
She loved dogs. Her husband called her a dog’s best friend, and the DAG — the Dog Advocate General. One of the last words she could say was, “puppies.”
She was beset with dementia. In her last years, she enjoyed sitting on her deck watching the hummingbirds come to the feeders a few feet away and enjoying the breeze. Her dogs were always close.
Linda was preceded in death by her parents.
Linda is survived by her husband, Raymond Harrington; stepson Raymond Harrington Jr., and his wife, Micaela; stepdaughter Brandy Benner and her husband, Adam; stepson Levi Harrington; and grandchildren Lyra, Madison, Emmett, Lyric and Kaden. She is also survived by her son, Jason Johnson, a niece, Sophie Johnson, siblings Gary Johnson and sister-in-law Karen Ko, Janis Johnson, Robert Johnson, a few close friends, an aunt and numerous cousins. She loved them all.
Her family can never repay her husband, Ray, for the devotion and love he gave her.
She has been cremated and a celebration of life will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3810 16th St., Lewiston.
Memorials may be made to the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter, 6 Shelter Road, Lewiston.
