Thekla Culver Johnson

About Thekla

Thekla Johnson, 86, passed away peacefully June 8th, at Meadow Woods in Bloomington, Minnesota. She was the youngest of three children to Ralph and Thekla Culver, born in Eau Claire, WI, April 30th, 1937.

A 1955 graduate of Eau Claire High School (now Memorial), Thekla attended the University of Wisconsin — Madison, before moving to Chicago. She married Roger Johnson on June 29, 1963 and the couple settled in Eau Claire, where they raised three children, Jennifer, Kimberly, and Jeffrey.

Thekla worked in the housing department of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, before returning to the administration of her Alma Mater, Memorial High School, in a number of roles, her favorite being her position within the Athletic Department, as well as managing/coaching pom pom squad. Her work occasionally took her to tournaments and games around the state. Chaperoning. Supervising. Making sure events went off without a hitch.

A side benefit was getting to see all of her children pass through Memorial. When she worked in the main office, her kids frequently fielded complaints from their friends and classmates who’d been busted passing feebly forged notes, attempting to excuse them from doctor’s appointments that somehow took place in the Taco John’s parking lot.

For a time, it was Thekla’s job to scrutinize phone calls, notes, excuses, panic attacks, mysterious ailments (both real and imagined), and it entertained her to no end, while being sorta awkward for her children. Behind the scenes, she quietly helped and mentored tons of students in ways that will never be measured in athletic achievement, or attendance rolls, via phone calls, heart-to-heart chats, jobs, and rides to appointments that no one else would take them to.

Outside of work, gardening, thrift sales, and epic walks were three areas Thekla completely dominated. For years, a sizable plot of land at her mother’s home in the Third Ward was devoted to a sprawling vegetable garden that she and her friend Judy meticulously attended, when they were not operating thrift sales throughout Putnam Heights.

Thekla’s home was always open to friends — from those who served with her on the Altar Guild at Christ Church Catherdral, to MHS coworkers, and relatives from all over. The joy she took in her friendships, the time she spent cultivating them, and the support that she gave and received was palpable to her children and all she encountered. She was frequently the first to rally people, and often the last to go to bed. Her summers at Pine Lake, and her excursions to Fond du Lac, New Orleans, Chicago, New York City and beyond were mainly about connecting and re-connecting with lifelong friends, siblings, cousins, children, and grandchildren.

When Roger had a stroke in 1997, Thekla devoted much of her time to caring for him, trying to make his quality of life as normal as possible, while also visiting and often hosting four new grandchildren and their families. When he passed in 2013, Thekla’s health began to fade, as well. For those who knew and loved her, recent years have been difficult. She is now free.

She is survived by her son Jeff and her grandchildren Fritz and Annebet of New York City, as well as her son-in-law Marc Carden of Minneapolis, and her grandchildren Culver of Lawrence, Kansas, and Sloan of New York City, as well as her sister-in-law Barbara Culver of Madisonville, La., and several nieces and nephews.

She is predeceased by her husband Roger, and her daughters Jennifer and Kimberly.

memorial service

Funeral/Cremation Provider: Crescent Tide Cremation Services