Johnsons mark 70th wedding anniversary

Hungry Horse News

Longtime Columbia Falls residents Ralph and Joanne Johnson celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Friday, Nov. 22.

“After church one day, he asked if I would like to go get a cup of cocoa with me. I said yes, and then he asked me again the next Sunday. It all started with a cup of cocoa,” Joanne said in a 2019 interview. “We saw each other often and one Saturday he just said ‘Let’s go look for a ring.’ There was no getting on a knee or anything like that.”

A fullback on the Rocky Mountain College football team, Ralph had to wait until his season ended to get married. So, the couple were married Nov. 22, 1954, two days after the end of the college football season and three days before Thanksgiving.

After the marriage ceremony at the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, the couple made the trip back to Billings for their reception the next day.

The couple moved to Plentywood in 1956 when Ralph took a job at the school there and made the move to Columbia Falls in 1961 after Ralph accepted a position at School District Six.

A Columbia Falls Hall of Fame basketball coach, Ralph coached and taught in Columbia Falls until his retirement in 1987.

They have four grown children, Todd, Cory, Kyle and Paige.

They have 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

    Ralph and Joanne Johnson on their wedding day.