Dana Keith Johnson

If a life is a song worth singing, then every breath taken should exude the melody, the harmony, and the rhapsody. Such was the song of Minister Dana Keith Johnson. Dana Keith Johnson made his grand entrance into the world on December 9, 1964 to parents Lewis Van and Veda Johnson. Family played a key role in the development and shaping of his life.

Dana loved the Lord and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior as a little boy at Pilgrim's Progress Baptist Church, Rev. Gerald Parker, Pastor, and was very active in church from a child. As a young adult, he united with Greater Paradise Baptist Church under the leadership of Dr. Jerry Black, Pastor. Dana was a 1983 graduate of Parkview High School. There he excelled as a student and showed tremendous enthusiasm in his studies and activities. He was a member of the dance team, ROTC and the gospel choir. He furthered his education and studied Healthcare Management and Administration at the University of Phoenix.

Upon moving to California in 1990, he joined Love Center Ministries, under the late Bishop Walter Hawkins. There his membership remained for thirty years. Dana was very active at Love Center. He was on the Ministers Board, a member of the Love Center Young Adult Choir, the Love Center Choir and was very active in the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar. Dana Loved using the gifts God gave him, especially singing. He also directed many choirs at his own church as well as other churches including Peniel Baptist Church with his best friend and brother, Charles Booth.

Dana graduated from Ohlone College in Fremont, CA with a degree in Interior Design while already working as a Design Center Manager and Marketing Administrator at Peninsula Floors, Inc. in Livermore, CA. He worked for PFI for sixteen years, having been promoted to Regional Sales Manager. Dana loved to cook and always had a good ol' Sunday dinner on the stove and would make you a plate if you stopped by. He liked to bake cakes and was famous for his Red Velvet Cake. If you were privy to that recipe, you are a lucky person. If you asked him what he put in something, he would always say "Oh a little o' this and a little o' that." In addition to cooking, Dana enjoyed movies, shopping and being silly. He was funny, caring, loving, straight forward and no-nonsense. He loved to spend time with his extended family and his sister, Tammy and enjoyed hanging out with his son, Jorden.

Dana was very close to his mother and loved to travel back to Arkansas and visit her on a regular basis. He was, in fact, planning to move back to Arkansas in the near future, but God saw fit to give him a better home. After a brief illness, Dana was called home to be with the Lord and transitioned peacefully on June 1, 2020. To celebrate and remember his life, he leaves his mother, Veda Johnson Sims and brothers, Keenan Johnson and Andre Johnson, all of Little Rock. His father Lewis Van Johnson and brothers Eric Johnson and Lewis Allen, Jr. preceded him in death. 

Dana has a host of nieces and nephews, as well as an extended family; brother, Charles Booth and the Booth family of Little Rock; sister, Tammy Smith, Jacqueline V. Smith and son Jorden Smith of California and the Jefferies and Grant families. Within a span of five amazing decades, this incredible man, Min. Dana Keith Johnson, found a way to leave an indelible mark on the life of every person he touched. The result of it all? This world is a better place. He has served from the bottom to the top providing exemplary leadership and giving definition to the true meaning of servant and mentor at its best. Dana was a lot of things to a lot of people, son, brother, dad, uncle, godfather and friend. We will all miss him but we will meet him again and be able to rejoice with him.

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