EVERETT — Friends and colleagues remember R.C. “Swede” Johnson as a hard worker, a smart leader. But most importantly, he cared deeply about his hometown.
Johnson, a former member of the Snohomish County Council, City Council and the school district’s board of directors, died on March 11. He was 81 years old.
In the town of Snohomish, he was more than just a politician, friends and colleagues said. Before he was elected to public office, he was a quarterback on the Snohomish High School football team and a member of the Snohomish Jaycees, a local chapter of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. That’s where he met Steve Dana, a building contractor who eventually won two stints on the Snohomish City Council beginning in the 1980s.
As someone who knew Johnson for more than 50 years, Dana remembered him as analytical, hardworking and dedicated to the community.
“We need people to have vision, and then we need to have people who have the ability to convert a vision into a reality,” Dana said Monday. “Swede was very practical in the sense that he’d be able to look at something and be able to resolve, ‘How do you make that transition from a vision to the reality?’”
Johnson spent more than 30 years as an engineer for the Snohomish County Public Utilities District. He was first elected to public office on the Snohomish School Board in 1983, serving for 10 years. He then served a term on the Snohomish County Council beginning in 1993 before being elected to the Snohomish City Council for one term in 2006.
During his time in elected office, Johnson helped push for a restoration of Chinook Marsh on Ebey Island and helped establish an executive board for the county’s Veteran’s Assistance Fund, according to a release.
“He was dedicated to the town and really wanted to do his best,” lifelong friend Gerry Salvadalena said Monday. “He was always trying to protect the town and the people.”
Salvadalena first met Johnson when the two were in kindergarten in Snohomish. Salvadalena later became a teacher in the Snohomish School District and worked with Johnson while he was on the school board.
In total, Johnson spent nearly two decades serving in public office.
“Most people will not know the contributions that Swede made because he didn’t look for credit for them,” Dana said. “He just did them because they needed to be done. And I think that’s what good public officials do.”
A memorial is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 31 at CrossView Church, 604 Ave. C East in Snohomish.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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