David Joseph Johnson

David Joseph "DJ" Johnson was a loving, silly, kind, loyal, adventurous, and fun Son, Brother, Grandson, Nephew, Uncle, Friend, and most importantly, Father.

He was known for being the most out going person in the room who never knew a stranger, he was so openly proud of the people in his life and tried to reach out whenever he could to remind people that he was proud of what they were up to. It didn't matter how long it'd been since you saw him, he'd greet you with a huge smile, a big hug, and probably an "ayyy".

He had big dreams and made big plans - always day dreaming about the next place him and his daughter would visit. From a young age he loved finding "treasures" which turned into antique collecting in adulthood, he enjoyed fishing and found a lot of peace from just sitting on a dock, he was always whipping up random crazy meals in the kitchen, most famously - Tacos out of whatever ingredients were in the fridge. He called his loved ones often, usually in the middle of the day "just because" or to tell us about something cool he had found at an estate sale - without fail, he ended every single call with "Love you, bye" and if he didn't get "love you" out he'd call or text you to make sure he said it.

He spent every second he could running around with his daughter taking her to all the creeks, lakes, and trails around town. They frequented all of the play grounds and parks trying to find the "most epic playground", they spent hours in the pool with "G" (Davids mom & Coralynns grandma), they visited the Zoo with his Grandma (Coralynns great grandma) often and he became pretty amazing at claw machines so she could have whatever she wanted out of one.

He would do word working and other crafts with his mom keeping a booth stocked at all the local Lawrence art shows - mom always jokes she's not sure if it was his art or his charm that did the silling. He used to find random gardens around town and take his mom to check them out and had just started gardening himself, it wasn't uncommon for him to randomly show up in moms office at KU or at her home office dragging her away from the computer for a random song or sitting down just to chat.

He came out to Colorado every few months to see his big sister "Aunt Tilly", his brother in law Mitch, & his niece Mara - his sister and him grew up nearly inseperable, if you knew one of them, you knew the other. He was so excited to be an uncle and for Coralynn to be a big cousin. He Facetimed Chantelle every few days to see Mara and was always picking up matching outfits for the girls.

He always talked about how lucky he was to be so close to his grandparents and he tried to see them every day, running errands with Grandma and fixing up cars or doing yard work with his Grandpa. He spent as many Thanksgivings in Iowa as he could with his "Ant" (no U on purpose, iykyk) Celeste and Uncle Alton - he even kept his Aunt company moving in for a few months while his uncle was deployed.

He decorated for every single holiday inside and out of the house and truly believed in the magic of celebrating no matter how insignificant the holiday felt.

He adored his entire family and his Grandpa was like a father to him but he often talked about how blessed he felt to be raising a daughter around a group of such strong women, including, Coralynns mom, his own mom and grandma, his sister and his aunt.

The loss of a person like David is truly unimaginable and it's hard not to see the world as less bright with him gone but he would want everyone to take this loss as a reminder to cherish the life you have, to stop being so rigid with plans and just go do the fun things, he'd want us to tell funny stories about him, and he'd want us to make sure his daughter is cared for and loved.

Please consider donating in his honor to a fund set up for Coralynns future: 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/david-joseph-johnson