Dr. Lee A. Johnson

Dr. Lee Johnson (Knoernschild), 62, of La Crosse passed through death into our Lord’s eternal care Saturday, December 6, 2025 surrounded by members of her loving family. Her last six years were a contested space between ovarian cancer and Lee’s will to love and bless her family. Today we are left with love and blessings. Lee is survived by her husband, Rev. Kent Johnson, three children, Lars (Natalie) Johnson, Soren (Tiffany) Johnson, and Signe Johnson; her granddaughter, Stevie Johnson; her brother David (Shannon) Knoernschild, father and mother-in laws, Orville and Kathleen Johnson, her sister-in-law, Ronda (John) Haley, her two brothers-in-law, Wade (Heidi) Johnson and Dale Johnson, and numerous nieces and nephews. Lee has been reunited in Heaven with her parents; Gene and Earlene Knoernschild (Long).

Lee was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on September 7, 1963. After graduating from Kennedy High School, she attended Luther College where she met and fell in love with her future husband, Kent D. Johnson. Graduating with a B.A. degree in biology, she deferred entrance to the University of Iowa Medical School for one year, to join Kent in Namibia where she volunteered with the Council of Churches in Namibia doing child nutrition surveys in partnership with Oxfam International. After getting engaged in Namibia, Lee and Kent moved to Iowa City where she began medical school. They were married on December 27, 1986. Upon completion of her third year of medical school, in June 1989, Lee and Kent were invited to return to Namibia to serve the church during Namibia’s transition to independence on March 21, 1990. Despite not yet having her MD, Lee quickly received permission from the South African Department of Health to practice medicine in the black township of Katura and along the Angolan border during a malaria epidemic. That year profoundly shaped Lee’s medical care.

After graduating from the U of I Medical School and completing her residency in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Johnson practiced as a pediatrician in Fort Collins and Greely, Colorado before joining the Pediatric Department of Franciscan Skemp/Mayo Health Care in 2000-2022. A compassionate and skilled expert in child abuse examinations, Dr. Johnson was the leading advocate for establishing the Stepping Stones Child Advocacy Center in La Crosse, serving as the first president of the board in 2004.

Lee’s greatest joy was being a mom and most recently a grandma. Lee’s quiet attentiveness found expression in her knitting expertise, her passion for reading and activities such as running, hiking, gardening, sewing, bird watching and traveling internationally with family, including medical mission trips to Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Vietnam. Lee was an active member of English Lutheran Church, teaching Sunday School, serving as a confirmation guide, and providing leadership on the English Lutheran Reconciling in Christ Committee. She was proud to have served on the Steering Committee of the ELCA’s Anti-Malaria Campaign.

The family will receive visitors from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10 at Schumacher-Kish Funeral Home and from 10-11 a.m. prior to a funeral service at English Lutheran Church at 11 a.m. on Thursday, December 11, 2025. Pastor Becky Goche will officiate. Following the service, a lunch will be served at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church followed by interment at Prince of Peace Cemetery in rural La Crescent. Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services is handling the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Lee’s name to English Lutheran Church, Stepping Stones Advocacy Center, or a pediatric scholarship fund that her family wants to establish in Lee’s name at the University of Iowa Medical School.

The family wishes to extend their heartfelt thanks to all of their friends and colleagues who offered encouragement and support along the way. They have been blessed by the excellent care, love, and respect provided by Mayo Clinic during nearly 6 years of Lee’s courageous struggle living with ovarian cancer and are grateful to Agrace Hospice for their loving care of Lee during the last week at home.