Sonja Johnston

Sonja Nadine Olson Johnston, 72, of Mandan, passed away July 20, 2020 at Sanford Health, Bismarck, ND. A public visitation will be held from 5:00-7:00 pm on Friday, July 24, 2020 at Weigel Funeral Home, Mandan, ND.

Sonja Nadine Olson Johnston was born on June 16, 1948, in Fargo, ND to Norman and Carol (Svegaarden) Olson, the first of six children to this union. She spent her early childhood in Fargo and Moorhead, MN. The family then moved to Mandan, ND in 1955. Sonja graduated from Mandan High School in 1966, “The Best Class of Mandan High,” after which she attended Bismarck Hospital School of Nursing.

Sonja was married on November 24, 1967 and spent the next few years in San Diego then Japan where her son, Daniel, was born in 1975. She moved to Wheaton, IL where her daughter, Andrea, was born in 1979. She spent the next several years working as a school nurse and later as an administrative assistant for ESI of Illinois. She retired in 2015.

Sonja moved to her beloved hometown of Mandan in 2018 where she started a new chapter in her life. It was here she designed her lovely new home, decorating and furnishing it with the things she cherished, including her beloved bee collection. She was known by her loved ones as HMQS (Her Majesty Queen Sonja), which she so well deserved.

Her hobbies included creating incredible personalized cards, piano playing, reading, putting puzzles together, and hand stitching.

Sonja is survived by her two children, Dan (Krista) and Andrea, who were the pride and joy of her life; brother, Tim (Bernie) Olson of Edmond, OK; sisters (AKA, the Army of Aunts) Renae (Richard) Southwick of Horace, ND; Marcia (Jim) Gums of Rogers, MN; Terri Lynn (Paul) Weigel of Mandan, ND; and Penny (Mike) Landscoot of Jamestown, ND; 11 nieces and nephews and 19 grand-nieces and nephews whom she loved as her own.

Sonja was preceded in death by her parents and her beloved Grandma Christine.

Sonja always kept her never failing love of God no matter life’s challenges including her 14-year colorectal cancer survival. Her new moto was “She needed a hero, so that’s what she became.” She will forever be in our hearts.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to https://donate.coloncancercoalition.org/tributes-and-memorials/.SonjaOlsonJohnston.