Johanna Stover Halgren passed away peacefully at her home in Broomfield, Colorado, surrounded by her loving family while watching her favorite tree outside her bedroom window and the flocks of Canadian geese flying overhead.

Johanna was born in 1944 in Long Island, NY. At the age of five, she and her family moved to Rochester, MN. As a young girl, Jody, as she was called then, had a deep love for and curiosity about animals and nature. Her parents indulged this love by providing her with years of horseback-riding lessons and allowing many stray domestic and wild animals into their home. Chippy, the backyard chipmunk, and her pet tarantula were among the most notable.

Johanna was a bright student and excelled in languages and math. In 1962, Johanna moved to Manhattan, KS to attend Kansas State University (K-state) where she planned to follow her heart and major in pre-vet. Sadly, after a few classes, she was told that young women would be best served by finding a more suitable major for their gender. From this experience, she pivoted her major to French, which she enjoyed (especially the semester spent at the Sorbonne in Paris), but the seeds of a feminist were planted. 

At K-state, Johanna fell in love with a kind-hearted, nature-loving boy from Minnesota. Lee was a Ph.D. student studying entomology, which appealed to her inner scientist. Lee jokes that Johanna knew she had found her life partner when she learned that his father owned a horse. Their engagement was soon thereafter, and together they celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Shannon. After Lee’s graduation, they moved to Marshall, MN where Lee accepted a teaching position in the biology department at Southwest State University (SSU).  

While being a dedicated and loving mother, Johanna’s intellect and deep inner purpose drove her to continually evolve her career and to find her larger life purpose. Some of Johanna’s early jobs included tutoring English, proctoring civil service tests, and eventually working in the math lab at SSU, using her love of math and helping others learn and grow. In 1970, the birth of her second daughter, Tracy, was a joyful occasion.

In the 70s, Johanna became politically active in the MN democratic party and was on the forefront of the women's rights movement and the health food craze. To this day, her daughters remember their equal rights t-shirts and the day the cookbook called “The Taming of the Cookie Monster” came into their home (that was the sad end of their beloved sugar cereals and snacks).

Johanna’s political interests were the impetus for her to transition to the role of counselor at Mainstay, Inc. There, she helped displaced homemakers prepare resumes, develop interview skills, and enter the workforce. She found great happiness and satisfaction in this work, which drove her to earn a master's degree in counseling from South Dakota State University in 1984.

In that same year, Johanna and family moved to Platteville, WI where Johanna put her education to use as a psychotherapist working for Lutheran Social Services. During these years, she became drawn to the spiritual world through meditation and energy healing, and would often travel to Madison to further her spiritual education and meditation practice with other like-minded healers.

While advancing their careers and raising their daughters, Johanna and Lee found and nurtured their passion for birding, canoeing, camping and backpacking, cross-country skiing, and being out in nature. Many family summer trips revolved around national parks (Johanna’s favorite was backpacking on Isle Royale), where they appreciated and shared the beauty of the natural world with their daughters. Johanna was a strong hiker and skier, often advocating for the most challenging yet most scenic route, despite her daughters' groans.

Once Shannon and Tracy were grown and flown, Lee and Johanna found their passion project - building their dream on a Greenwood Lake vacant lot in northern Minnesota. There, they spent their summers building their homestead, hearing the call of the loons, kayaking the tranquil lake bays, and feeding their souls with the beauty of the north woods. Johanna could often be found on the cabin deck, absorbed in a book about mountaineering or simply observing the natural world before her.

After 10 years in Platteville, Lee accepted a position as VP of Academic and Student Affairs with the State Colleges in CO and Johanna and Lee moved to a beautiful mountain property in Evergreen. This was the perfect place to complete their careers while watching wildlife (elk, deer, bear, and fox) wander by their back deck. For years, they spent their winters in Evergreen and their summers in Northern MN. 

As her family grew to include two sons-in-law (Dave and Chris) and eventually four grandchildren (Noah, Siena, Aiden & Joshua), Johanna was the world’s best grandma. When they were young, Johanna delighted in creating and sharing stories for the kids while snuggled in bed, proudly attending what must have been hundreds of school concerts and other extracurricular events, judging elementary school science fairs, and annually attempting to dupe the kids with April Fool’s Day texts. Watching her grandchildren grow into happy and accomplished adults was her pride and joy.

Johanna was deeply loved and will be profoundly missed by family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT) and Parkinson’s Voice Project in Johanna’s name would be appreciated.