Lot R1

Burials:

Diane Lucille (Elvers) Johansen (cremation)

Notes:

1. This burial was inadvertently placed in the roadway rather than in a deeded plot.

OBITUARIES

Diane Lucille (Elvers) Johansen, 1949-2004 (Died 6/10/2004)

Johansen – Diane Lucille (Elvers) Beloved Mother, Daughter & Friend on June 10, 2004. Age 54, of Inver Grove Heights. Preceded in death by her father, Lawrence Elvers. Survived by her daughter, Jennifer; mother, Lucille Elvers; companion, Bill Nelson and his parents, Charles and Shirley Nelson. Special friend of Teresa Graham and Jackie Rhody; also survived by Molly Kate; other relatives; friends; and countless children Diane touched during her nursing career with Saint Paul Schools. Memorial Service Tuesday, 11 a.m. at Salem United Methodist Church, 55th St, E. and Babcock Trail, IGH. Visitation Monday 5-8 p.m. and Tuesday 10-11 a.m. at the church. Interment Salem Shrine Cemetery. Memorials preferred. Arr. English-Meeker & Kandt Funeral Home 651-455-5352. [Saint Paul Pioneer Press: Sun., 13 Jun. 2004 (photo)]

Nurse Diane Johansen dies at 54
by Kay Miller Star Tribune Staff Writer

For thousands of St. Paul school children, especially those from immigrant families, school nurse Diane Johansen provided more than their first real medical care. “She really loved those kids. They were almost like her children,” said her daughter Jennifer Johansen.

Johansen, 54, died Thursday of a virulent cancer that had been diagnosed in April. After spring break she did not return to Wellstone Elementary School, where she had worked for nine of the 33 years she spent as a nurse in the St. Paul public schools.

“Sometimes when a kid is sent to the school nurse with a stomachache, what the child really has is a heartache,” Johansen told Teresa Graham, a longtime friend and school social worker, Graham said Saturday. What passed for illness nay actually be domestic violence or other survival problems.

So Johansen listened. And because she listened, kids dropped by to talk, Jennifer Johansen said. “Even if there was nothing physically wrong with them, she listened.”

“She was an unsung hero – a quiet, soft-spoken person who was especially important for the immigrant children, who are now over half the population. She played a key role for Somali, Hmong and Spanish-speaking children who had never had any health care in their lives,” Graham said.

She recalled a frail Mexican girl who frequently missed school. The child’s family was very poor and her mother spoke only Spanish, so it would have been easy to write off her truancy as school avoidance.

“Diane realized that there was more to it,” Graham said. It turned out that the girl had myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disorder, for which she was treated. “It was a life-altering experience for the child. Her whole life was turned around because of Diane.”

Johansen was born and raised in Inver Grove Heights. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul in 1971. She loved gardening, walking and socializing with her many friends. But Jennifer was her best friend. And when it was clear that Johansen wouldn’t survive, her greatest desire was being there when her daughter graduated with a nursing degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

“She let me do whatever I wanted. I tried everything not to be a nurse, but it turned out to be a fit for me,” Jennifer said. While Johansen was still able, they shopped for Jennifer’s graduation dress – Johansen in her wheelchair. As a single mother, Diane always had been so practical, so frugal. Then she bought a lovely straw hat for herself to disguise the ravages of chemotherapy.

On graduation day, her longtime companion, Bill Nelson, drove her to St. Peter. Johansen made it through the ceremony but collapsed afterward.

With chemotherapy, she could have bought a little more time. But she opted for a few clear-headed days in home hospice, nursed by a dozen friends and Jennifer.

“Diane thought she’d have more time than this, so she had to pack a lot of living and decisions into the last few months,” Graham said. She grieved that she wasn’t able to say a formal goodbye to the schoolchildren. So colleagues made a compact disc of the kids talking about how much they loved her. After all those years of listening, she knew how her years in nursing had mattered.

“You’re going to be a great nurse,” she told her daughter. “I’m glad this is what you wanted to do.”

In addition to her daughter and Nelson, Johansen is survived by her mother, Lucille Elvers of Inver Grove Heights. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Salem United Methodist Church in Inver Grove Heights. Services will be held there at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Kay Miller is at kmiller@startribune.com. [Star Tribune: Sun., 13 Jun. 2004 (photo)]