Gene was 84, having been born in Wisconsin Rapids on March 5, 1928; he died on Saturday, November 24, 2012, at the Odyssey Hospice House in Palm Springs, Calif., where he and his wife, Irene, have been wintering for the past 12-15 years or so.

His memorial service is set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, at the Herman-Taylor Funeral Home in Wisconsin Rapids; I plan to attend the funeral, as will Chet Krause and a few other friends from Iola.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of a great Wisconsin numismatist, Gerald ‘Gene’ Johnson. I’ve only known Gene briefly but his kindness left me with a cherished memory. We met a few years ago at a coin show and ceremonial event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Wisconsin’s state coin club ‘Numismatists Of Wisconsin’, or N.O.W. He was one of the founders of the club and among several of them who were there to celebrate the anniversary.

Gene was the former editor and prolific writer for the quarterly journal ‘N.O.W. News’. It seemed he had an article in every issue, often about an obscure Wisconsin related numismatic item, but not always; in his very last article, this year's winter issue – just received in the mail – he covered the interesting ‘Parnell and Gladstone’ tokens of the 1870’s. He had an easy style of researching and breaking down information to make it readable and interesting.

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with him at his home to discuss an article he wrote, which I desired to research further. He was open and cordial welcoming me into his home office filled with file cabinets and books. He gave me sage advice on how and where to dig for information, and he was always helpful and happy to pass along his knowledge in foregoing correspondence.

Of course he is most known for authoring ‘Trade Tokens of Wisconsin’ in 1967 with major revisions in ’77 and ’93. These are the bibles for collectors of the subject.

Gene was a true gentleman. Thank you Gene, you will be missed.