In Loving Memory of Johanna F. Salmi: 1928-2023

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On May 29, 2023, Johanna F. Salmi went home to be with Jesus, who she always said was her very best friend. 

Johanna Frieda Magdalena Christoffersen was born Oct. 10, 1928, in northern Germany, the oldest of five children. She had fond memories of her early childhood, but then everything changed around 1939 and she endured the most difficult years of her life during World War II. 

In 1959, she emigrated to the United States at the invitation of Air Force Chaplain Rev. Elijah Hankerson and his generous wife Annie, who Johanna met at an American Air Force base in Germany. flJohanna worked briefly in Champaign, Illinois, before relocating to the Pacific Northwest where she remained for the rest of her life. 

She met her husband, Clyde C. Salmi, while on vacation in Ocean Shores, Washington, and they were married on May 16, 1964. They lived in many different places in Washington and Oregon and had one daughter, Anne-Marie (b. 1965). 

Johanna worked at Lewis Federal Savings in both Chehalis and Centralia for several years before opening The Mustard Seed Restaurant in 1982 with Clyde. It was located at Exit 68 south of Chehalis. They enjoyed all the customers they served over the next six years before retiring in 1988. 

Johanna is preceded in death by her parents and three siblings and her husband, Clyde C. Salmi, who died in 2008. Johanna is survived by one sister in Germany, her only child, Anne-Marie Bauman (Mark), of College Place, Washington, grandsons Hans and Paul Bauman, and granddaughters Susanna and Bethany Bauman.