Dr. Charles Aaron Johnson

Dr. Charles Aaron Johnson, known as Chuck, died peacefully on March 6, 2025 at the age of 94. Chuck's boundless curiosity and upbeat spirit is dearly missed by his family, by his longtime partner, and by countless colleagues and patients he worked with over the course of his 33-year surgical practice in Sioux City.

A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 4600 Hamilton Blvd, at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. A private family memorial will be held at a later date.

Charles Aaron Johnson was born in Sioux City on July 13, 1930 to Cornelia Lueder Johnson and Dr. Aaron Quinton Johnson. The family lived on Pierce Street, and he attended Bryant School, North Junior, and Central High. Chuck had happy memories of playing in the vacant lots and sledding or riding a homemade boxcar down Pierce Street's big hill. From his bedroom window he could see Briar Cliff, and hear music from the Bandshell. At "the Castle on the Hill," he made lifelong friends and became yearbook photographer, sparking a passion for photography that remained with him his entire life.

Chuck attended Dartmouth College and then went to the University of Iowa for medical school, where he met Marian Jean Beers of Waterloo, Iowa on a blind date, and quite quickly fell in love. He and Marian were married June 18, 1955 in Waterloo.

He did his internship at St. Louis City Hospital, then returned to Iowa City for his surgical residency. After obtaining his M.D., Chuck fulfilled his military requirement by taking his growing family to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, where he spent two years as the post surgeon. In 1962, upon discharge from the army, Chuck returned to Sioux City and joined the medical practice of his father and Dr. Edward Sibley.

Over the course of the next three decades, Chuck cared for thousands of Siouxlanders and served on many boards, including Goodwill Industries, the Blood Bank, the Woodbury Medical Society, First Congregational Church, St. Luke's Medical Board, and the board of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Chuck's greatest passion, though, was raising five active children, a life that included going to swim meets and graduations, boating on the Missouri River, skiing in Colorado, and bike riding, specifically RAGBRAI. All together he and Marian rode in six RAGBRAIs.

In 1995, at the age of 65, Chuck retired from medicine and embarked upon a long and satisfying Next Chapter of life. He and Marian embraced nature and environmentalism as members of local chapters of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society, and he served as a board member of the Loess Hills Alliance. They became avid woodworkers, and Chuck taught himself to make Celtic drums and turn decorative wooden bowls on his lathe. In time he learned to play his own Celtic drum and Marian studied the bagpipe, and they joined a local bagpiping group, Ceol Beag, marching in parades as far away as Yankton. Most weekends they escaped to their cabin at Lewis and Clark Lake, where they sailed and shared many happy times with a great group of Lake friends.

Chuck's life was shattered with Marian's death in 2001. Six years later, he found love again with Donna Popp, whom he and Marian had known through church and environmental activities. Together Chuck and Donna traveled to Ireland, Belize, and the Galapagos Islands, visited each other's children, and enjoyed birding, volunteering, and the Sioux City Symphony.

Chuck Johnson is survived by Donna Popp, his five children: Julie Johnson (Bob Hercules) of Evanston, Illinois; Eric Johnson, of Eldorado Springs, Colorado; Janet Hascall (Phillip) of Atlantic, Iowa, Adam Johnson (Cristin) of Ridgway, Colorado, and Aaron (Simona Spinelli) of Zurich, Switzerland; grandchildren Adam, Aidan, Jackson, Willa, Alma Sophie, Flynn, Oscar, and Conrad, and great-grandson Enzo.

In lieu of flowers and plants, make time to take a walk outside, notice the birds and think a good thought about Chuck.

Memorial donations in Dr. Charles Johnson's name may be made to the St. Luke's Foundation, 2720 Stone Park Blvd., Sioux City, IA 51104, to support the education of future nursing students, or to the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center 4500 Sioux River Rd., SC 51109.