Lynette Marie Johnson

I still have not fully processed the idea that my little sister Lynette is gone. I have some fond memories of her as a child when we used to play dress up. She loved dressing up and she loved games. Some people are natural dog people, and Lynette developed dog love at an early age, bringing stray dogs home. I remember her first dog Skip that she was allowed to keep. He was kind of wild because she hadn’t learned how to train dogs yet. As an older sister, I was concerned that Lynette was not eating properly. She had a very finicky diet and my mom and I had confrontations with Lynette because she adamantly refused to eat her vegetables and would only eat meat and potatoes. It was very frustrating because I was worried about her childhood development, but of course, she had a mind of her own and would not budge. I believe this limited diet contributed to her Dementia later on, which appeared to come on at about age 54, although she appeared healthy and vibrant her whole life. Of course, from the start, Lynette demonstrated an uncanny ability to win at games and be good at sports. Her brain was definitely working well back then. She liked all kinds of games, such as cards, pool, foosball, any kind of video game--whatever the game was, she was good at it and she aimed to win. I remember she was a Foosball Master. I don’t think anyone could beat her. When I played with her, it took about half a minute for her to beat me every time. Her reflexes were very fast and she was smart. She went on to join a pool team with my sisters Karen and Brenda where they won many events and won trophies. This site only allows posting 3 pictures otherwise I would post the trophy picture. Her softball team also won many trophies. Looking back, I feel bad because Lynette was the youngest and had to grow up after my parents got divorced and after her other siblings had already moved out of the house to get jobs or go to college. When I graduated High School, Lynette was only in fourth grade. Lynette was left alone in the house as a latch key child for her grade school and high school years while my mom worked. I know she was lonely at times and resented my mom’s new boyfriend, who happened to be the father of her best friend. That was very hard on her because she felt my mom had chosen him over her. She was still very young and vulnerable to feelings of rejection, imagined or not. As a young child, Lynette needed more emotional support during this time, but it was not available to her. As the younger child, poor Lynette seemed to slip through the cracks in many ways. You know, it is hard when you want to be there for people but you are far away or they won’t let you. In an attempt to expand her horizons, I had Lynette come visit me on the Ranch I ran with my X outside of Okanogan, WA. in 1980 when she was 17 and then again when she was 24. I showed her how to feed the cows, bail the hay, stack the hay bales, how to ride a horse, how to can food, how to skin a rattlesnake, and so forth. I will never forget when we were eating steak dinner and I told her it was from one of our best cows. And Lynette said, “This came from your cow? I thought the steak came from the Supermarket.” We had a laugh about that. After the ranch, I took her to Seattle to see the sights when she was 17. I will never forget, when we drove into Seattle her eyes were as big as saucers and she said, “What is this?” She had never been out of Montana and could not believe how big Seattle was. While we were in Seattle, I took her to the dentist and had her teeth fixed, and to the King Tut exhibit at the Seattle Center. After we came out of the exhibit, I couldn’t remember where I parked the car and we walked around the Seattle Center at least 6 times before I found it. We were almost in tears it was so traumatic. She was fun to be with and had a great sense of humor. Lynette was always a beautiful looking girl – so lovely. I have many pictures but can only post 3 so I will open another card to post more. She had plenty of handsome boyfriends but eventually the harsh realities of life caused her to give up on men and dedicate her life to her dogs and to working for her retirement. She got a new pickup truck especially for the dogs, and everywhere she went driving around Missoula, the two big golden retrievers were in the back. Everywhere Lynette went the dogs went. Later, as her dementia progressed, her car keys were taken away, the cars were sold, the house she worked for most of her life was sold, and she was put into a dementia care home where her stay was short lived before she passed away. This all seemed to happen so fast. There are a flood of memories, lots of emotions, and even regrets but all of my meanderings cannot bring Lynette back. I regret that I was not rich enough to send Lynette to the Dr. Bredesen Clinic and the Vineyard Care Home where they practice Dr. Dale E. Bredesen's Protocol for Alzheimer's patients which supposedly has a 90% cure rate. He wrote the book “The Ageless Brain.” I know with the proper care and earlier intervention they may have been able to reverse Lynette’s condition. But most people prefer to follow mainstream advice which is oftentimes just maintenance care and not intervention. Lynette was such a vibrant individual, but had developed a complicated constellation of personality quirks and traits that rose from the way she coped with the life she was given. Lynette, I remember you as the smiling lovely lady that you were. You have cast off your corrupt material body, but your soul is incorruptible and pure light. God is all forgiving and will forgive us of our sins, if we can forgive ourselves. I forgive you for anything you have done to me and I understand why you suffered in your life. Life is difficult for us all because we are cast into difficult situations, and are ignorant of the light. May your soul shine bright during your transition into the divine light of God, which surrounds us at all times, though we are too blind to see. Let us pray for Lynette, a beautiful child and a beautiful lady, now resting peacefully in the arms of the all loving, all healing God.