Craig E. Johnson - Rochester

ROCHESTER -- A funeral Mass for Craig Eugene Johnson will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, with Rev. Thomas Loomis officiating. Burial will be at Pleasant Prairie Cemetery in Rochester.

Craig, age 51 of Rochester, died in a 39-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35 on Monday. In an attempt to rescue his wife, he exited his vehicle and was fatally struck by another vehicle.

Craig E. Johnson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 30, 1958, to Ivan and Dorla Johnson Eisenlauer. He was raised in Des Moines and graduated from Roosevelt High School. He was also a graduate of Iowa State University (Phi Beta Kappa). He married Kathleen Sweeney on Sept. 21, 1985, in Des Moines, Iowa.

He was employed by IBM for many decades and traveled the world as a Power Systems software product manager of IBM i, PHP, and MySQL. He was described as one of the most well-recognized and respected figures in the IBM Systems world. He is remembered for his kindness, sense of humor, talent, professionalism, and dedication. He was scheduled to be the keynote speaker for the TEC conference in April.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; two daughters, Casey Johnson of Ames, Iowa, and Megan Johnson of Minneapolis, along with her fiancé Solomon Geigle; his father, Ivan (Judy) Johnson of Des Moines; his mother, Dorla (Ike) Eisenlauer of Estes Park, Colo.; a brother, Paul (Carol) Johnson of Ankeny, Iowa; step sisters, Renee (Jason) Aker of Baxter, Iowa, Debra (Dennis) Martin of Lincoln, Neb., and Diane (Gary) Ellis of Norwalk, Iowa; and a step brother, Dick (Linda) Eisenlauer of Bettendorf, Iowa.

He was a loving husband, father and son. He was well-respected by everyone who knew him and will be dearly missed.

Friends may call from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday evening at Macken Funeral Home, and one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday.

Memorials may be directed to the family.

Macken Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be signed at www.mackenfuneralhome.com.