Eugene N. Johnson

Longtime Waukesha attorney Eugene Johnson died peacefully on March 11, 2020, at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife Lorraine, daughter Jane (Michele), sons Eric (Bonnie), Wayne (Susan) and George (Suzanne), six grandchildren and his brother Kenneth.

Born in Milwaukee on November 29, 1927, Gene led a full life by any measure. He grew up in the great depression and was a star football player and wrestler at Milwaukee’s South Division High School during World War II. Recruited by Wisconsin head football coach Harry Stuhldreher, Gene was a starting offensive and defensive lineman as a freshman on the Badgers’ 1945 varsity football team. He took a break from college to enter the US Army Air Corps in 1946 and served in the Philippines. When he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1949, the US Air Force had been established as an independent service from the Army. He returned to Madison and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1951. In September of that same year he married the beautiful Patricia Herrick in her hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin. They were married 51 years when she passed away in 2002. Gene graduated from the UW law school in 1954. For the next seven years he was employed as a claim’s adjuster and supervisor by the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company (now American Family Insurance). He and his young family relocated from Madison to Waukesha in 1959 and in 1961 he opened the Johnson & Johnson law firm with his brother Kenneth who remained in the partnership until he retired in 1997. Plagued by failing health, Gene was forced to close his law office in 2019 after an impressive fifty-eight-year run.

Gene’s passions included duck hunting, fishing, gardening and playing card games with his friends and family. He was a Wisconsin football season ticket holder for close to 60 years. Gene and Patricia attended the 1967 NFL Championship Football Game in Green Bay that is commonly referred to as the ‘Ice Bowl’. He recalled many years later that it was so cold and miserable, and because so much crowd exhale vapor filled the air, neither he nor many of the spectators at Lambeau Field that day were able to clearly view the Packer’s iconic winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

During the 1960s, Gene was active in the Wisconsin Republican Party. He served as moderator at the Waukesha Congregational Church and as chairman of the board of directors of the Waukesha YMCA.

Throughout his adult life, Gene was actively involved in a variety of Masonic endeavors. He was a member of Waukesha Masonic Lodge #37; the Scottish Rite Valley of Milwaukee; the Tripoli Shriners; the National Sojourners and its auxiliary Heroes of ’76. In the 1990s Gene thoroughly refurbished a 1968 Ford Bronco and won numerous trophies displaying it in hundreds of parades throughout southeastern Wisconsin.

Gene liked to sum up himself in the words of the popular cartoon character Popeye: “I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam.” Rest in peace.

Visitation has been rescheduled for Thursday, July 16th from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Randle-Dable-Brisk Funeral Home, 1110 S. Grand Ave., Waukesha. At 6:00 p.m. a Masonic Service will be held followed by the memorial service and military honors, all at the funeral home. (The Masonic Service & Memorial Service will be limited to family and close friends due to CDC Social Distancing Guidelines).

In lieu of flowers, if desired, please make a donation to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children ( https://donate.lovetotherescue.org ).

Face masks or coverings are strongly encouraged.