Old Nurse Anesthetists never die, they just run out of gas and that was the case of Nancy Johnson, 80, of Boise, ID who passed away peacefully in her home on July 30, 2023.

She was born Nancy Marie Dick to Richard and Barbara Dick on October 6,1942 in Little Rock Arkansas. She joined an older sister Carol Ann.

Ms. Nancy was educated in the Little Rock school system. Her junior year, Governor Orval Faubus closed the high schools to resist integration. She went to a private school, did correspondence courses and went to work.

She said from an early age that she wanted to be a nurse and set that goal early. She said she wanted to be like Dr. Miller’s nurse, Ms.Russ.

After graduating in the top 10% of her class, she applied to Baptist Memorial Hospital and School of Nursing in Memphis, Tennessee.

Again, her brilliance shining through and graduating in the top 5 of her class, she stayed on and worked in Labor and Delivery. Later she returned to Little Rock and worked at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in the Clinical Research Center For Labor and Delivery.

She became disenchanted with floor nursing and decided to go into anesthesia. She was accepted at Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota. She had vast experiences after completing her courses.

Nancy and Joe Ryan were married on January 1, 1970 and she became a mother to 3 beautiful daughters and a sweet son who died at age 4 1/2 months. The Ryans became unhappy in Memphis and moved to Grand Junction, Colorado.

Shortly after she and Joe split, she met John Johnson whom she had anesthetized. They quickly fell in love and got married in Las Vegas on August 29,1986. They were later sealed in the Jordan River Valley Temple in 1988. Two months later they were called and served a Stake mission for approximately 3 years.

The opportunity to move to Boise came up with a significant salary increase, so on August 26,1990, they made their home at 3600 Rugby Drive.

She lost John on September 9, 2008 and she has just been waiting to be reunited with him.

She says she has no regrets and was ready to go after being ill for the last 15 years.

She leaves her love to all and says she’ll be waiting for you to join them too.

Nancy is survived by her sister Carol Ann Eichelmann, daughters, Meg, Rebecka and Mary Anne Ryan as well as her 3 grandchildren