Joan Kohl Johnson Sager

Joan Kohl Johnson Sager, a long-time resident of Mercer Island, was born in Tacoma on February 1, 1930. In the midst of the Great Depression she entered the Sumner school system and, unknowingly, became a classmate of her future 2nd husband, John Sager. John and Joan were friends for years before their paths intersected in marriage in 2005. Joan’s intuitive flair for art surfaced early. Her grade school principal, Robert Wiley (later a Mercer Island resident), confiscated one of her 3rd grade drawings and hung it on his office wall. As a high school senior, about to leave the school system, Joan asked that he return it to her. Where others doodled and dawdled, Joan created beautiful pieces. Her second grade teacher, John remembers, on the first day of school introduced herself and walked down the isles calling the new students by their first names. When Joan’s turn came, her teacher called out “Joan.” “No!” Joan cried out, (she was not yet seven years old) “It’s Jo-ANN.” The teacher, flustered, mumbled something about “usual” spelling. John remembers that a year later her third grade teacher did the same thing—and evoked the same response. From then one everyone knew how to pronounce her name. Still, even as an adult, she wore punctuated name tags when tags were required. Church life came early for Joan. She attended Sumner Presbyterian Church as a grade schooler and over the years developed a deep personal faith in God. A rather private person, she spoke of this reluctantly, but it was an important anchor throughout her life. America’s 20th Century war experiences hung more heavily on Joan that most her age at that time. Her father, a volunteer U.S. Army field surgeon, went ashore at Normandy in June 1944 on D-Day plus one. Major Gerald Kohl commanded army field hospitals through the remaining hostilities, including the brutal Battle of the Bulge in 1944-45. On returning home after the war he moved his medical practice to Tacoma, where Joan finished her senior year at Stadium High School. Still, she always considered herself a small-town girl, roots in Sumner, population then 1,900. But war followed Joan. She married Cliff Johnson in 1951 and during their honeymoon Cliff was ordered to Korea where he served in command of American Army prison garrisons. News of prison riots by North Korean POWs filtered home and although Cliff’s letters were reassuring they always arrived too late to ease the terrible fears. Joan and Cliff finished their degrees at the University of Washington and moved from Seattle to Mercer Island in 1955, lived on the North End and began their family. In 1966 Joan and Cliff bought South End property and Joan designed and had built the beautiful lake view home she lived in for the rest of her years. Her adult life was filled with productive activity, always embossed by artistic flair. She joined the Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Orthopedic Guild and designed ceiling-hung mobiles to brighten the lives of sick kids in their beds below. She was active in the Mercer Island Visual Arts League for many years and one of her paintings will display in July at MIVAL’s 50-year anniversary show at the Mercer Island Community Center. As a founding member and occasional president of the Bellevue Arts museum’s Miller Freeman Guild, she was an active force in helping the museum survive and flourish, and today it is a first-class arts and crafts venue with world-wide reach. Joan always preferred the “occupation” of stay-at-home mom. While raising a son and daughter, she nurtured her art forms, beautiful water color paintings and the intricate wax-dye batik process. Her work appeared in shows throughout the Puget Sound region, both in outdoor art festivals and local galleries. She loved to travel with Cliff, taking auto and rail trips through Portugal, France and Germany. At home she was an exquisite hostess, kitchen wonder-worker and an excellent dancer, both tap and ballroom. For many years she led an exercise class at her church, meeting three times a week for fun and fitness. Cliff died of a lingering illness in 2003. Joan remained in her beloved home but the loneliness led her to renew friendships from among her small-town chums. She and John eventually connected at Sumner’s High’s Class of 1947 monthly luncheons in Tacoma. They soon fell in love and were married in November 2005, under a palm tree at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Honolulu. The travel bug soon infected them: cruises around South America. The Mediterranean, the Danube River, Panama Canal and Alaska. They had planned a cruise to Northern Europe in 2011, but Joan’s illness intervened. She died in bed at home early in the morning of June 23, 2011. Joan is survived by her husband, John, her two children, Brynn Johnson and Libby Johnson, grandchildren Taylore and Aaron Johnson. Sisters are Barbara Adams and Patricia Hadden, nieces Catherine Adams and Cynthia Engle and great nieces, Jennifer and Whitney Engle, brother Alexander Kohl and his children Lisa Kohl, Jennifer Holmes (Mark), Pete Kohl, Jeff Kohl, and grandchildren Max, Sam, Beau Gracie, and Madeline – named after Joan’s mother. A memorial celebrating Joan’s life will be held at the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, 3605 84th Ave. S.E. on June 30 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church Foundation.

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