Johnson, Craig Richard

Craig Richard Johnson, 53, died unexpectedly in his home in Webster Texas, on March 25, 2011. Craig was born Dec. 23, 1957, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Craig was a 1976 graduate of Washington Senior High School and a 1980 graduate of Iowa State University with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering.

With his degree in Chemical Engineering, he lived to “boil oil” and was exceptional at it. He worked at oil refineries in Mississippi, Indiana, New Jersey, Illinois, California and Texas. His last job was at LyondellBasell Refinery in Houston Texans. In 1990 while in Indianapolis, he married Shelia Smith (later divorced) and adopted her two youngest, a son, AJ (Albert James) and a daughter, Shayla.

Craig was intelligent, handsome, a generous man with a some what sarcastic sense of humor. He loved to play cribbage, cook, talk about work and enjoyed a good corn feed steak and a Bud. He preferred to wear his jeans, T-shirts and roper boots to his business suits. In college, he loved to play fooseball at Dugan's, shoot pool anywhere and see the Chicago blues bands at the Maintenance Shop. Craig encouraged people to be their best.

He was laid to rest April 6, 2011, in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind.

He was predeceased by his mother, Vivian (Near); father, Richard Lee; and his high school friend, Carl Swenson.

Craig is survived by his son, AJ Johnson of Houston, Texas; and his daughter, Shayla Johnson of Houston. He is deeply missed by his brother, Lee Johnson (Marilyn Kriegel) of Marion; sister, Kay Johnson of Ames; and girlfriend, Adrianna of San Antonio, Texas.

Thanks Craig-for standing next to us when times were hard. Our hearts are empty, but will in time be filled with all the good and humorous memories we have of him. Kurt Vonnegut was one of his favorite authors, so perhaps the following quote would be appropriate: “The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings, not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions, and systems.”