Wendy Marlene Johnson

August 11, 1953 - February 22, 2023

Wendy Marlene Johnson was born August 11, 1953 in SLC to James Edgar Johnson and Marlene Eschler Sheldon. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she was 8 years old. She was very talented and creative as a child and loved to write and sing. She learned how to play the piano and the guitar. She also took dance lessons and was a great dancer. She sang and played the guitar for many talent shows in junior high and high school. She graduated from East High School in 1971.

After high school, she attended Dixie College (now Utah Tech University) where she played on the basketball, volleyball, softball, and powder-puff football. While there, she was voted woman of the year in 1972. She graduated from Dixie College with an associate's degree in 1973.

After college she moved back to Salt Lake, started working, and met and married Brent Rammell in the Salt Lake Temple on March 15, 1974. Wendy served the church as Ward Choir Director, Relief Society Chorister, Family History Consultant, and Girls Camp Director.

While raising her children, Wendy worked at the Utah Parent Center and was Executive Director of the Autism Society of Utah, where she taught workshops around the state to parents of children with special needs. She also won a son-writing contest on KUTR radio. She recorded her song: Love is the Lifeline, which played a couple of years on the radio.

She also really loved science and was fascinated with quantum string theory and loved to watch sci-fi shows like Star Trek and Stargate. When her children were teenagers, she became "the neighborhood mom". There were times you could find her joining in a water fight, or playing Nintendo at 2 am at the request of her daughter's friends during sleepovers.

In 1992 she took Karate and quickly found her passion. She rose through the ranks quickly and became an assistant instructor. She loved teaching and spent hours at the studio helping others progress. Unfortunately, she ruptured her Achilles tendon, an injury severe enough to end her karate hobby.

Wendy divorced Brent in 1999 and started working for the Department of Highway Safety, where she helped found the Citizen's Academy. She returned to her love of music and joined the Department of Highway Safety Music Ensemble.

Wendy is survived by her children Kristen (Erik) Cambridge, Heather Rammell, and Matt Rammell.