Martha M. Johnson

FOREST CITY - Martha M. Johnson, age 85 of Forest City, died Saturday, February 13, 2010 at Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit in Mason City.



Funeral service will be held at 1:30 PM on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at Faith Lutheran Church in Miller, Iowa with Lay Pastor Rose Visser officiating.



Visitation will be held an hour prior to service at the church. Burial will be in the spring at Ellington Township Cemetery in rural Forest City.



Martha M. Johnson was born in Ellington Township, Hancock County, Iowa on February 22, 1924, one of 13 children born to Barney and Anna (Cook) Pitkin. She received her education in rural school and helped her parents at home. She then worked as a housekeeper for a family near Britt before returning to Forest City. She worked for many years in the maintenance department at Waldorf College.



In 1976 Martha married Ben Riekena. He passed away in 1978. On January 3, 1981 she married Robert Johnson at Faith Lutheran Church and the couple made their home in Forest City. Bob and Martha together helped care for many of their elderly friends, providing transportation and companionship for the homebound.



Martha could do almost anything she put her mind to. She kept a big garden and canned lots of produce. She enjoyed crocheting and quilting and over the years did lots of painting and wallpapering ~ both inside and outside homes.



She was a wonderful cook and cooked for the Forest City Hospital and at Forest Haven. She loved to walk for exercise and was a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Miller.



She is survived by her husband, Robert Johnson of Britt, son Glen Pitkin of Sandstone, Virginia, 2 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, brother George Pitkin and sisters Naomi Holmes and Alice Jacobson and extended family and friends.



She was preceded in death by her parents and 9 siblings.