Joe A. Johnson
July 14, 1958 ~ March 13, 2025
Born in:
Fargo, North Dakota
Resided in:
Fargo, North Dakota
Joe A. Johnson, 66, of Fargo, ND died unexpectedly at home on March 13, 2025, from an underlying health condition. Joe was born to Jack and Viola Johnson on July 14, 1958, in Fargo, ND, as the youngest of 4 siblings. Joe’s three sisters were Julie (Stan), Vickey (Steve), and Holly (Leroy). Joe’s family roots were in the rural community of Buffalo, ND. It was this mixture of small town life and farming as a young man which laid the foundation for his lifelong philosophy that blended hard work, community involvement, and friendship.
Joe and his parents moved to Pelican Rapids, MN in 1974 where he attended high school and graduated in 1977. He remained steadfast friends with many of his high school classmates. Joe worked hard at several jobs including traveling harvest crews and meat packing. Joe then became a lineman and worked for several years putting up powerlines in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. In 1982, Joe survived a life-threatening powerline accident which changed the trajectory of his life. He enrolled in college at Minnesota State University – Moorhead and then later attended law school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Upon completion of his law degree, he began his career as a private-practice defense attorney in Fargo. Joe had an innate sense of fairness from which he drew upon while giving all his clients the best representation possible.
It was in Fargo that Joe met Marianne Gooselaw. Joe and Marianne were married in 1986 and had two wonderful sons, Jack and Sam. Joe and his family moved to a quiet North Fargo residence where he built a beautiful life and home while proudly watching his sons grow into the quality men that they are today. Joe loved to see that a hard work ethic was strong in both of his sons, and he let everyone know that they are, by far, his greatest accomplishment.
Joe was an avid reader and loved to discuss all subjects. He could easily carry on a lively conversation with literally anyone. This ability stemmed from a combination of being an excellent listener and his innate ability to relate to the circumstances in other people’s lives. It was Joe’s ever-present sense of trust and camaraderie that made him so easy to love and depend on. If you were lucky enough to be one of Joe’s many friends, you knew that if you needed him, he would always show up or he would die trying.
Joe leaves behind so many of us who will miss him, every day. His passing marks a new era of profound loss for all his family, friends, and colleagues. He will be missed most by his loving wife, Marianne, son Jack Evan, son Samuel Walker (Nicole), his beautiful granddaughter Vienna (1), and Joe’s second grandchild who is due in May.
Godspeed Joe, we all love you.
Video Tribute:
Services
Funeral Service - Tuesday: March 18, 2025 6:00 pm
Boulger Funeral Home and Celebration of Life Center
123 10th Street S.
Fargo, North Dakota 58103
701-237-6441
www.boulgerfuneralhome.com
Visitation - Tuesday: March 18, 2025 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Boulger Funeral Home and Celebration of Life Center
123 10th Street S.
Fargo, North Dakota 58103
701-237-6441
www.boulgerfuneralhome.com
I was saddened to hear of Joe’s passing. I always thought that he did well for his clients no matter how difficult some of them were. He was a good advocate and a good man. He will be missed.
I am so sorry for your loss. Will be keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers.
Renee Radloff
So very sorry to hear this. I graduated with Joe. So many great memories! Deepest sympathy for Joe’s family & friends 🙏🏼 What a great guy ❤️
So sorry to learn of Joe’s passing. He was a truly nice guy and treated everyone with respect.
I worked with Joe in the 90’s, great guy. My sympathies to the family for your loss.
So sorry to hear this. Our sincere condolences to Joe’s family.
Marianne, Jack and Sam, we are so sorry for your loss. Joe was a phenomenal human being. The guy that never had a bad day. Great sense of humor-even when he was the target. Shared many laughs and a (couple) beers over years of youth hockey and time at the lake. RIP buddy. See you again someday.
sincere condolences
Julie Condon and family
Marianne and family-
Shocked and saddened to learn of the loss of such a young, good, kind, caring, smart man, friend and former neighbor. We were blessed to know Joe. Sending love and our sincere sympathies to your family. May God bring you comfort.
With our sympathy,
Craig and Julie Johnson
I will miss my Uncle Joe and only wish I would have known him better. Time gets away from all of us:-( I am so sorry for the rest of Joe’s family. We can show honor to Joe by trying to imitate the good person he was, loving kind and considerate to others.
So sorry to hear of Joe’s passing. Our deepest sympathy to Marianne & family. RIP, Joe.
Dave & Donna Saewert
I work with Joe’s son Jack. On behalf of all at the Food Building in Minneapolis we send our sympathies to Marianne and her family.
RIP
So sad to hear of joes passing, he was a great guy and will be missed by many. Haven’t seen Joe in a while, wished we could’ve had another beer together. He was very funny and kind. My condolences to joes family.
Our thoughts and sympathies are with you all. Hugs and love ❣️
Marianne my deepest sympathies to you and your family!! My love is with you always!
I’ve known Joe sense High School. I went to a dance with him in 11th or 12th grade. He was best friends of my cousin mert. Joe was in Erhard alot. I visited with him last fall at larrys supermarket. He was a special guy. My sympathy to his entire family.
So sorry to hear of Joes passing! What a wonderful tribute to his life at The Bolger funeral web site! I remember several conversation with his uncle Don Grondahl. So sorry he passed so young. Sounded Ike he had a great life!
My uncle Joe was the kindest person I know. I always loved getting his perspective on topics that we discussed and I had so much respect listening to his views on different topics! I have great memories of being at the lake and sure will miss those conversations.
One memory I will never forget is when he told me to go out on a balcony to look at the beautiful view. I stepped out and he immediately locked the sliding glass door and started laughing! He told me I had to go back and forth from each wall 100 times before he would let me in! He was always up for a good joke!
To my dear aunt Marianne, I’m thinking about you, Jack, Sam, Nicole, and Vienna. My heart aches that he was not able to meet baby coming in May. He loved his family so much which I admire deeply.
Love you Joe and love all of you you. Hugs.
The first time I met Joe I knew we were going to get along well. He had a way of conversing with anyone about anything! His understanding of life was really the topic of my admiration.
Joe was a hardworking person strong enough to overcome difficulties in life. I am losing a very unique and irreplaceable uncle in law and good friend. I will miss our philosophical talks. I will always miss you. Thank you for helping understand life better. My respects and condolences to Marianne, Jack, Sam, and family.
You welcomed me into your family like a daughter and always treated me as such. You were a generous, kind person with a big heart. I still remember the evening we met, as if it were today. Your kind eyes made me feel right at home.
A hug to the dear Marianne, Sam, and Jack.
I love you all, and miss you. Gae
We were so sorry to hear that Joe had passed. Love and grief go together. Your love for Joe will only continue to grow stronger.
I was a police officer in Fargo and had a few cases with Joe. He was a good lawyer and after the cases we were able to put aside the differences and have a good working relationship. I always enjoyed talking with him and as he lived very close to my mother in law, I had a lot of conversations with him. He will be missed.
Joe was far my favorite billet dad (his family my favorite billet family) going beyond that, Joe was an incredible man. In my post high school but pre-college years I got to learn about adulthood from Joe. He was confidently unique, smart, honest, and fair. He was a great example for me as a grew into adulthood. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to see how Joe went about life. He loved his family and had a great balance humor and work ethic. He definitely had an impact on who I am today.
Some memories of mine from 20 years ago:
– first meeting Joe and hearing about Jack and Sam. He was proud of his boys.
– hanging out in the kitchen late into the night with Joe and Marianne.
– Joe’s laugh – especially when Pedro Martinez threw Don Zimmer to the ground in that infamous Sox/Yankee fight
– legal and personal advice following my dwi
– personal advice about romantic interests of mine (Joe was right)
– the amazing story that led to his career in law
– Joe and Marianne’s connection – there was a lot of laughter in the house
– the story about how Joe’s arm got stolen at Sam’s hockey tournament. It ended up being a prank. Joe told me the story and showed me the “missing” flyer that the organizers printed. Joe’s story telling had me laughing really hard.
I’m sorry to hear of Joes passing. I’ll continue to represent and share life principles I learned from Joe. I know the rest of the Johnson family (and many others) will do the same. That is the sign of a great man – a living legacy that carries on.
Marianne – Was saddened to hear of Joe’s passing. My thoughts are with you and your family at this difficult time. May your memories bring you comfort.
I worked for Joe when I first started in my legal career, as a Legal Administrative Assistant. He was funny, hard working and inspirational. Many thoughts and prayers.
I 1st met Joe in a trial for a guy writing bad cks at Wimmer’s. Joe was representing this fellow and got him off?? I should have resented Joe for doing this, but I saw the compassion he had & knew he was just doing his job. And he did it very well! We actually became friends after this and I thought he was one of he most thoughtful & compassionate attorneys we had in Fargo. Thoroughly enjoyed Joe and learned a lot about what “Character” meant from him. Will miss him! Condolences to all the family. Brad Wimmer
After Joe and I started working in Fargo, we both worked on criminal defense cases for a while. I went to his office one day to commiserate about one of my cases. Joe was always a helpful and knowledgeable mentor and friend. His door was always open. When we finished our case review, I was just about to leave with the RIGHT ANSWER, and Joe stopped me and said he needed to address one more thing. My signature. He told me that my signature was messy and that there was no excuse for it. I have all of my fingers on my dominant hand. Joe SHOWED me how to write my name in cursive, and it was the best version of my signature I have ever seen.
In law school, I used to bring huge bowls of popcorn to class, especially real estate. One day I offered Joe some popcorn. He said SURE, as long as you put it in my mouth.
We had a lot of laughs! Joe was the BESTEST guy, husband, father, friend and colleague.
Hugs to Joe’s family! AA
my sympathy to Marianne and family.
The work Joe did isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s for a tough breed, who need to make sure everyone gets a fair shake, and who care for others…even those who aren’t entirely unlovable. It was made for Joe.
Joe was a good man, back in the early 80’s, he knew I was working as an apprentice lineman for a power line contractor in North Dakota and we were “run and gun” most of the time. Safety wasn’t always the priority. He encouraged me to try to get on with the power company instead of contracting. I got on with Flathead Electric Coop and worked there for 30 plus years. Great advice Joe. So sorry for your loss.
I’m sorry to hear about Joe, Marianne. I hope you can keep some happy memories at the forefront during this time. I met Joe at our 35th reunion (he said he was representing you 🙂) He was easy to talk with and I found out he was friends with my cousins from Alice. Small world. Take care of yourself.
We didn’t know Joe, but do know his sister Vickey (and Steve). The love that shows when Vickey talks about her brother is such a testament to the great person he was. My heart breaks for you all at this difficult time.
Marianne i’m so sorry to read of Joes passing. Gods peace to you and your family. Love to you, Carrie Simonson
As a cousin and growing up as children together in Alice ND, and later both of us living in Pelican Rapids, I have many fond memories. He was a great example of rising above challenges. An amazing man. Condolences to all family.
So sorry for your loss. I just heard about this now. The Johnsons lived about a mile North of our family in Alice. Although Joe was younger than all of us, we made many memories at their home. He was the youngest of a great and fun family.