Astoria

Aug. 23, 1930 — June 13, 2023

On Aug. 23, 1930, Shirley (Salmi) Johnson was born in a logging camp near Jewell to Roy and Sivian “Siv” (Saranpaa) Salmi. Her father had worked the woods since age 15 as a whistle punk, then on the steam donkey, trains and log trucks. Their first home was in Seaside, where Shirley started first grade.

The Salmi family purchased a dairy farm in Brownsmead, where she lived on the banks of Blind Slough at a time when a small family could survive off 25 cows, several chickens and a few pigs. She shared the daily chores of the farm. Finnish was commonly spoken. A draft horse was the farm tractor.

She attended Brownsmead grade school and graduated from Knappa High School. Activity centered around the Lutheran church and Brownsmead Grange, with rummage sales, corn feeds and community dances with local folk as musicians. There was little money, few telephones and television did not exist.

The country was struggling out of the Great Depression and war was looming. She is the family’s last survivor from the Greatest Generation. While not perfect, they were self-reliant, hardworking, fun-loving and unaware these were hard times.

A Knappa farm boy who had just returned from the U.S. Navy had her interest. Eventually, he stole her heart and never broke it. She and Elmer Johnson were married in 1951 and lived in his grandparents’ former house on the Knappa farm.

They bought a modern home in Burnside around 1955. Shirley worked in retail shops and was a part-time mail person in a new concept where mail was actually delivered to the home.

They wanted children, but that was not meant to be. Instead, they took in children in desperate need of a loving home. A foster son, Scott, came first, followed by little Beverly, who eventually returned to her parents and was not heard from again. The adoptions of Dwayne and Karlyn soothed that heartbreak.

The family returned to the Knappa farm in 1966, rebuilding the old home and logging the property. They raised large gardens, canned fish and vegetables, raised a small herd of cattle and harvested salmon, sturgeon, razor clams and berries. The table was never empty, and her Swedish egg cakes, goulash and marionberry pie were legendary.

She hosted family and friend gatherings including Christmas bashes, Tom & Jerry parties, fishing trips, barbeques, Moclips, Washington clams, oyster and crawfish feeds, laksloota with dumplings and the dreaded lutefisk. Her mother was one of her best friends, and her parents were often traveling companions.

They avidly followed the children and their little school through sports and plays. Graduations and dad’s retirement opened them up to travel to Reno, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii. She later became a caregiver for Grandma Siv and her brother-in-law, Clifford.

The farm eventually became too much, and they moved to a small house in Astoria in 2005. They made new families and friends within the neighborhood, at the retirement center and at the American Legion, where they pillaged the poker machines.

COVID and declining health slowed their social life. It was time to move to assisted living, where the kind staff at Astor Place looked over them. Dad passed in 2022. She passed peacefully at age 92, with family at her side.

Shirley is survived by one nephew; several great-nieces and nephews; three children; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren (and two more pending).

We give thanks to so many kind people who gave fond memories to Mom and Dad.

There will be a celebration of life at Knappa Prairie Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. Monday, followed by refreshments at the family farm on Carl Johnson Lane.