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Arthur “Art” Johnson, Madison park planner and golf course architect, died Jan. 2, three days after suffering a heart attack while helping take down a tree at his Wisconsin Dells-area home. He was 82.
Johnson, a landscape architect, worked for 40 years preserving, planning and constructing parkland for the Madison Parks system. He was involved with the design and construction of Madison’s Odana Hills GC and Yahara Hills GC (shown on home page), as well as Monona GC. In addition to working for the city of Madison, Johnson started Landscape Planners Inc., a private landscape consulting firm which developed many Wisconsin golf courses, including Alpine Valley Resort in Elkhorn, Telemark GC in Cable, Devil’s Head GC in Merrimac and Edelweiss Chalet CC in New Glarus.
According to an obituary in the Wisconsin State Journal, Johnson was born Sept. 20, 1927, in Battle Creek, Mich., to Arthur Read Johnson and Teresa Raffel. He grew up in Madison, where he attended Holy Redeemer Catholic School and Edgewood High School, where he was all-city in football and basketball.
Johnson came from a family with a long tradition of military service, and he began his own career in 1946 in the Navy ROTC Unit at the University of Wisconsin. He was eventually promoted to lieutenant junior grade and was in the military until the end of the Korean War in '53. He attended the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in '50 and a master’s in landscape architecture and horticulture in '57.
In 1950, he married Nancy Ann Coughlin, and together they had seven children. They couple lived in Madison until they moved to Adams County’s Lake Jordan, near Wisconsin Dells.
A memorial service for Johnson was held Wednesday at St. James Catholic Church in Madison. Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home and Cremation services (www.ryanfuneralservice.com) assisted the family.
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