Dennis Johnson named Citizen of the Year
They have two children and eight grandchildren, and
work together to process meat for area farmers.
“We’ve been doing that ever since 19 . . . well, over
Dennis Johnson was named Outstanding Citizen of
the Year at the Cokato Chamber of Commerce annual 50 years, if you add it all up,” Johnson said.
In 1976, Johnson joined the fi re department, and has
holiday party Dec. 3. The chamber gives out the award
each year to a citizen who has worked hard to support been serving ever since – 42 years this December. He
served as fi re chief between 1998 and 2003, but has
the community.
Johnson, owner of White Front Locker Service in been “being a regular fi refi ghter” since then. “Being a
Cokato, one of the oldest businesses in town, said the fi re chief takes a bit of time,” Johnson noted. “It’s like
award came as a surprise, but when “I walked in [to running two businesses.”
Being even a “regular” fi refi ghter comes with plen-
the party] and saw my whole family there, I fi gured
ty of challenges. Johnson remembers being called out
out what was going on.”
Born in the Cokato hospital in 1948, Johnson grew in the middle of Christmas, and has even had to leave
up on a farm south of town. He graduated from Cokato customers in the store on occasion.
“You can’t be everywhere,” Johnson said, and his
High School in 1966, and started his meat process-
ing business in 1967. “It just kind of gradually came duties with the fi re department are clearly a priority
together,” said Johnson, who didn’t own the building to him.
“It takes more than me,” he said of the commitment
until he came home after serving two years in the
Army. Johnson served in a maintenance battalion as involved. “It takes my family.”
Through his years with the fi re department, Johnson
fi rst cook in charge of the kitchen. He remembered
cooking eggs in the morning for 300 troops, “any way has been present at many events that are now practi-
cally legends in the Cokato area.
you wanted them.”
When the Y2K panic hit, “a few of us spent the night
He married his wife, Debbie, in 1972, the same
year he offi cially bought White Front Locker Service. at the fi re station,” Johnson said, just in case some-
thing were to happen.
“One of the bigger
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Senior
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so we knew something
was up.”
There were so many
downed poles and ob-
structions that he re-
members driving trucks
on sidewalks just to
get around town. He
said the fi re crew spent
three sleepless days and
nights at the fi re sta-
tion.
“That was an inter-
esting time. We had Dennis Johnson received an
meals down there and award for being an outstand-
ing citizen.
everything.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
To Johnson, it was all
worth it. “I’ve always
been trying to help people who needed help,” he said,
adding that volunteering is special to him because of
his fellow workers, as well. “You have that camerade-
rie,” he said.
Johnson said that though “I’ve made a good per-
centage of all the [fi re] calls,” he’s found time be part
of the Cokato community in other ways, as well.
He’s provided meat for the Corn Carnival, been
president of the golf course, and is a Shriner and a
member of American Legion Post 209, as a color
guard. He’s also a member of the chamber of com-
merce and served on the board of the Firefi ghters Re-
lief Association for more than 15 years.
On top of all this, he spends long hours in his shop,
sometimes working late into the night.
“‘You see him working there ‘til midnight, all hours
of the night,’” he said,
quoting what people
have said of him. “There
are a lot of friends who
come by [and say], ‘oh,
he’s still working.’ I just
tell them I work slow,”
Johnson laughed, add-
ing “I put out the best
product I possibly can.”
Johnson is planning
to retire and sell his
business in the spring.
He said when that hap-
pens, he’d like to play
some golf, work on his
house, and do a little
fi shing, but chances are
he’ll continue to fi nd
more than that to fi ll
his time.
“I suppose I’ll do a
little
[volunteering].
You gotta be doing
something.”
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