Lois Johnson

Lois Margaret Johnson was born January 24, 1925 to Ary and Grace Adkins in the university town of Fayetteville, Arkansas located in the Ozark Mountains. She had one sister and one brother, but both left home when she was about six, so she was raised as an “only child”. Her dad was in the post and hardwood business, and her mother was a widely respected author and scholar who often wrote for the Christian Standard and Lookout and had several songs published.

At the urging of her mother, Lois began serving the Lord at a very early age, teaching a Junior class and playing the piano for church in her early teens. She and a friend held Vacation Bible School in several small rural communities where there was no church.

Upon graduation from high school at mid-term, she attended Ozark Christian College for one semester, which was then located in Bentonville, Arkansas which moved to Joplin, Missouri the following year. In 1945 she enrolled in Lincoln Bible Institute in Lincoln, Illinois, a new college which is now known as Lincoln Christian Seminary. It was there that she met Charlie and they began dating a couple months later. They were married May of 1947 and did mission work in south Arkansas for a short time before returning to college.

A year or so later they began a student ministry in a small town near Springfield, Illinois and Lois soon opted to drop out of college after 3 years and concentrate on being a preacher’s wife. For the next 60 years she continued this role, and enjoyed sharing in almost every aspect of Charlie’s ministry, usually behind the scenes. Their home was always open to young and old alike, and they often entertained visiting speakers, evangelists, and missionaries.

Located ministries took them to northern Indiana and then back to Illinois to the towns of Wayne City, Effingham, Springfield, and Rockford, and finally to Iowa in 1973 serving the First Church of Christ in Ankeny for 3 ½ years.

In 1977 Charlie began 16 years of service with Christian Evangelistic Mission, traveling all over Iowa establishing new congregations and helping weak and struggling churches. It was during that time that Lois served as Rising Sun’s first secretary, beginning the same day as Doug Raymond assumed the position of Senior Minister. She had always done Charlie’s secretarial work and was very much at home in the church office. To her, it was a ministry, not a job, and she found it very rewarding.

At the end of 1992, soon after his retirement, Charlie was asked to fill a temporary position with the newly established Risen Sun Christian Village in Council Bluffs doing marketing and public relations, serving as liaison with area churches. It was to last only 18 months; however, they were persuaded to stay for a total of 4 ½ years. During that time, at the advanced age of 68, she experienced cancer and underwent chemotherapy.

Missing their grandchildren and the privilege of watching them grow up, Charlie and Lois moved back to the Des Moines area in 1997 and shortly thereafter accepted an invitation to join the Rising Sun staff on a part-time basis, working primarily with people over the age of 60. This proved to be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding stages of their 57 years of ministry, and many close ties were formed with the seniors of Rising Sun, who became known as the OWLS- Older, Wiser, Loving Seniors. After Doug and Joyce moved into their new home, Charlie and Lois were privileged to move into the church parsonage, where they hosted Bible studies and other events. After Charlie’s health forced him to give up his ministry, and his death in 2009, Lois continued to keep in contact with seniors with special needs for several years, helping them in any way she could. This was her special source of joy and it gave her a sense of purpose.

In February of 2010 the elders asked Lois if she would be interested in helping out in the church office, which she readily agreed to do, occupying the same office that she had worked in for 16 years. She continued in this volunteer ministry for the next 6 ½ years, grateful for the opportunities to be useful that it provided. In September of that year, Lois moved to the newly remodeled cottage which formerly housed the Learning Center, and lived there.

Lois and Charlie were the parents of two children, both of whom were adopted at birth. David passed away in 2007 at the age of 49, never having married. Carol married Neal Shivers at Ankeny and they live on a farm north of Bondurant. They blessed Lois and Charlie with four grandchildren, Andrew, Nathan, Benjamin and Hannah. Andrew is in tool and die at DeeZee Mfg. He and his wife Tammy (daycare worker) have four children, Brayden, Chloe, Conner and Rylee, and live near Bondurant. Nathan is a middle school vocal music teacher at Johnston. He and his wife, Ashley, have two daughters, Karly and Bryndell, and a son, Caleb. Ashley is a school counselor at Collins. They live at Bondurant. Benjamin is a graduate of ISU and farms with his dad. He and his wife, Emily have three children, Brody, Briggs and Oakleigh. Hannah graduated from Wartburg College with a music major. After being a 5-12 band instructor at Colo for 4 years she’s a stay-at-home mom and piano teacher. Her husband, Jon, is a school teacher at Perry and they have one son, Liam.

Lois always felt that God had a plan for her life, and she tried to do her best to fulfill it. She and Charlie shared a common goal and always worked together as a team, relying on God to provide for their needs and lead the way. They often expressed their deep appreciation to Christian friends and co-workers who were such an encouragement throughout their ministry. In recent years, Lois has had many health problems to deal with, including macular degeneration, but continued to look for opportunities to serve the Lord and His Church. Her primary goal has been to live her life in a way that would be a testimony of God’s faithfulness.

God called Lois home on March 6, 2023 from natural causes.

The service will be live-streamed at Rising Sun Church of Christ

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