Johnson, Wayne Douglas "Barney" age 94, of Eden Prairie (formerly of Richfield) and Sun City, Arizona loved people and engaged with them every chance he had. Born July 2, 1926, Wayne died June 1st 2021 at home surrounded by loving family. Immediately after graduation from South High School ('44), he enlisted in the Navy and as a seaplane radioman flew in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Following his service, Wayne attended, on the GI Bill, the University of Minnesota, where he received his Doctorate in Dentistry. In 1951 he married the delightful Nathalie Lois Nystrom, and with her brought up four children. He practiced dentistry for fifty years, cultivating numerous friendships with his patients and their families. A child of the depression and hard circumstances, his most endearing traits were his indomitable and wholly infectious enthusiasm for life and his joy at engaging others. People were drawn to him because he was an eternal optimist, always cheerful. He had a lifelong love of learning things, and often said "I could never be bored." With his wife and his children, Barney traveled widely. He loved food and gatherings of people. He was an organizer of social functions for family and many lifelong friends, including South High and University of Minnesota Dental alumni, and for his entire extended family, such that his cabin at Coon Lake became a bedrock place for all. Every year he hosted the Olson Family Picnic, with its games of horseshoes and treasure hunts. (His place in Sun City over time became known for that reason as Coon Lake West.) He was a participant in Classic Car Club of America functions, and was active in the CCCA until his passing. He loved singing. From his youth he sang in choirs, and in the American Swedish Institute Male Chorus he sang for 26 years, making trips around the metropolitan area to perform, and to Sweden six times for choral tours. He was sympathetic to others' struggles, and he often helped out, offering his time and resources. Many, many lives were made better through him, some even made possible. He loved nature-trees, fish (and fishing), and animals of all sorts - but particularly birds. Great loves: his wife Nathalie, and wife Shirley; his children, family, friends, neighbors, camping, weekly games of bridge, and a good ice cream cone, preferably a double-decker. He loved a chocolate malt, barbecued ribs, shore lunch walleyes fried in butter, pecan rolls and pastries of all sorts. If you asked him how he was doing, his response was always, "Wonderful!" or "Spinordi!" He loved stories-loved reading them, hearing them, telling them. A good "Barney story" often ended with some laughable near disaster. Some of his stories of mishaps and hard life in the depression brought belly laughter and tears to your eyes, such as the time he and his mother faked, for guests, having electricity in their apartment. He created endearing, funny names for people. Determined as he was, he was a great inspiration to many and he succeeded in his life primarily because he believed, whether others did or not, that it-could-be-done. "Follow your dreams," he often said, and did in all areas. A lifelong golfer, and a good one, he lived the game: "You have to follow though," he believed, as in a well-executed golf stroke. Even into his nineties, he usually won putting contests, unless he cheated and let others win. As in Sun City, Arizona, where he spent his winters, playing nine holes into his late eighties, and after that playing putt putt courses using only his left hand to make games more even. A tinkerer, he owned two classic cars, a '41 Cadillac and a '65 Chevy Impala, which he enjoyed driving and maintaining, but he likewise tinkered with everything, the furnace, the vacuum cleaner, bird feeders, there often being signs of his having done so-usually in the form of band aid-like wads of duct tape here or there. Or wire. Or twine. To his children he'd say, "Just look at it slowly and you can figure out how it works." He treated each encounter with a new person as a gift, and at restaurants approached total strangers to strike up conversations and even sing to them, in this way making new friends. Usually, he befriended his neighbors too, and later, his caretakers. As he aged big winds tried to blow him down, and each time "the Energizer Bunny" got back up, and so many times it seemed he'd just keep doing it forever. And even after he survived a last, terrible stroke-one that would have killed most people on the spot-he rallied. Flat out on his back, if a doctor asked him, "How are you doing?" right up until the end he answered, in that inimitable way of his, "Great! Coming along." We will miss him terribly, his hearty "Hello!" and inspiring can-do-spirit and love of life. Predeceased by wife Nathalie Johnson (April 30, 2002); wife Shirley Widseth (February 16, 2019); and brother Robert Johnson and sister Marilyn Larson (Johnson). Wayne (Barney) is survived by his children, Kim Kaufman and husband Jim Kaufman; Heather Row; Wayne Johnson, Jr.; and Nathalie Johnson; his grandchildren, Rachel Kaufman, Sarah Tonsager, and Andrew Row (partner Catherine Hannigan and great granddaughter Aster); and myriad beloved cousins, nephews, nieces and their children, or The Olson and Nystrom Clans extant; sister in law Elaine Johnson (now 102), and brother in law Charles Knilans; stepsons Ken and Greg Nordstrom. Stepchildren Jill, Jan, and Brad Widseth. Memorials preferred to: The American Swedish Institute Male Chorus 4525 Parkside Lane, Edina, Minnesota 55436; or The DAV of MN, 20 West 12th St. 3rd floor, St. Paul, MN 55155. Celebration of Life to be held at Diamond Lake Lutheran Church, 5760 Portland Avenue, October 16, 2:00 p.m., coffee reception following.