WAUWATOSA, Wis. — For the first time in decades, Dan Johnson no longer lives at home with his wife Barbara.
“We met just a couple months after we both graduated college,” said Dan Johnson. “A mutual friend introduced us. We started dating right away. August of 1970, that was the exclusive. We got engaged and married in October of 1971.”
The pair were inseparable. Both enjoyed traveling and spending time with family.
Barbara Johnson now has Alzheimer’s disease and currently lives at a memory care assisted living home.
Dan Johnson recently moved into a new condo. While his wife isn’t there, he said her presence still is.
“As we moved her out, then it was too lonely for me to be there,” said Dan Johnson. “It held too many memories of Alzheimer’s. I still have those memories. I knew they wouldn’t go away when I moved here, but it does help being in a new environment.”
Dan Johnson was Barbara’s caregiver for more than a decade. He said her declining health became too much for him to continue, but that doesn’t stop him from daily visits.
He said Barbara doesn’t remember much, but she lights up when he sings to her.
Dan Johnson said his number one priority is to keep his wife comfortable and to cherish their memories.
“I’m fortunate enough to still see enough of the original people that we were, well, what she was in the 1970s,” said Johnson. “I still see that spark or glint in her eyes. Even if I didn’t, I would still love her the same as I did then, if not stronger.”
Even though he has entered a new chapter in his life, Dan Johnson knows when he heads home, his wife is always right there in his heart.