Cecil Johnson

Cecil DeVere Johnson was born March 25, 1935, in Gregory, SD. He grew up on a farm outside Gregory, the sixth of nine children of Emer and Martha “Baba” Johnson. His parents, especially Baba, believed in the importance of education and hard work, and Cecil took this philosophy to heart from the very beginning. Cecil attended three rural grade schools from 1941 through 1948. He was an eager, inquisitive student, but on his first day of first grade, he came home with doubts about school because he was there all day and did not learn to read. Despite this setback, he went back to school and did learn to read. Cecil read every chance he had, and his father had to roust “Bubbs” from his reading to do his chores. Thus, his lifelong love of reading, learning, and writing began.

Cecil also made up his own language during his grade school years. His siblings say that his made-up language and his coding during his military service went hand in hand.

From 1949 until his graduation in 1953, Cecil was a Gregory High School Gorilla. High school provided more access to books and learning.

After high school, Cecil began work as a laborer for a company contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to lay concrete for the construction of Fort Randall Dam on the Missouri River. To earn financial assistance for tuition and educational expenses through the GI Bill, Cecil joined the U.S. Army as an infantry soldier in 1954 during the interwar years between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was a communications expert and a Morse Code operator. While in the Army, he was stationed in Fort Bliss, TX, and Germany, and upon leaving the military, he attended Black Hills Teachers College, now Black Hills State University.

College life in the Black Hills was a joyful experience for Cecil, and, again, he balanced his academic studies with football. Besides his course work, Cecil was into two things at Black Hills—football and the college newspaper. He played and lettered in football all four years. His experience with the college newspaper inspired him as an educator to teach high school journalism classes that published stories all of Lyman County. In 1960, Cecil graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education with a major in English and a minor in physical education. He would go on to earn a master’s degree from Bemidji State University.

Cecil met his wife Norma “Turp” Hupp in 1956 while attending college. The couple married in 1959 and moved to Presho (Turp’s hometown), where in the fall of 1961, Cecil began a teaching and coaching career that would span decades at Presho High School and, later, Lyman High School.

As a Presho Wolf and a Lyman Raider, Cecil taught English literature, grammar, Greek mythology, journalism, and writing to hundreds of high school students, and, later in his career, he also taught English classes at Capital University in Pierre, SD.

He invested many hours as a class advisor, a tutor, and most of all a coach. He was head football coach in his early career and head track coach for decades. After he retired from school teaching, he continued to volunteer as an assistant coach and worked with the track team until his last year, at 90 years old.

They moved to Presho where they raised their children, and eventually help raise their grandsons, who visited often and for much of the summer. An avid hunter, fisherman, and gardener, Cecil loved to be outdoors and connected with nature, especially at the family farm in Gregory.

Cecil DeVere Johnson, age 90, passed away on Father’s Day, June 15, 2025.

A private family memorial will be held at a later date with Isburg Funeral Home in Pierre, SD, which is in charge of arrangements.

Cecil is survived by his son Orange (Kim) Johnson; daughter, Coreen Johnson (Tom Tomczyk); grandsons: Cade (Haley) Johnson and Bridger Johnson; great-grandsons: Carson, Briggs, and Hyatt; Bill (Jean) Sorensen; brothers: Berle (Marcella) Johnson and Robert (Beth) Johnson; sister Barbara (Chuck) Matson; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents Elmer and Martha “Baba” Johnson; wife Norma; brothers: Derald, Virgil, and Dean Johnson; and sisters: Lorraine King and Glenice Brown.

Memorials on behalf of Cecil Johnson for the Lyman County Athletic Foundation can be sent to P.O. Box 224, Presho, SD 57568.