Stub leaves behind his daughter Diana, who married Marcus Ingle, and three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren: Aric Ingle, married to Micki, with children Zephyr, Zaiden, and Zyler; Danika Wiggins, married to Parrish, with children Jace and Tye; and Aaron Ingle, married to Michelle, with children Edison, Gerard, and Frederick. He is dearly missed.
An extrovert, Stub always enjoyed people, whether through work, family, church (he was a member of Central Lutheran Church in Bellingham for many years), the Lion’s Club, Elks, Masons, or his coffee group whom he joined every morning for many years. He had a lightning wit (even at 97).
In recent years, Stub lived in various assisted living communities including the Parkway Chateau, Summit Place and Mt. Baker in Fairhaven, and finally Avamere in Tigard, OR, near family.
Anne’s children and extended family likewise accepted Stub into their family and cared for him as their own. They had been married for 20 years when she passed away on New Years morning of 2015.
In 1994, Stub married Anne (Baughman) Valum and opened his heart to include her family with his.
Stub loved animals and particularly dogs, and was a skilled dog trainer as well.
He loved to boat in the San Juan Islands and to fish for salmon. He would later introduce his grandchildren to crabbing off the bridge and dock in Boulevard Park.
Stub was an avid sportsman, he went on yearly hunting trips for 49 years.
Stub made many friends over the years here and in Arizona, where he and Delores wintered with their RV for ten years after Stub retired (at Valle de Sol RV park). Following a long illness, Delores died in 1993. They were married over 50 years.
For years he wanted to be part of the automobile business, and in 1951 he got his chance. He answered a newspaper ad for a car salesman. He was hired on the spot and agreed to start just as soon as he got back from his hunting trip. For 31 years, Stub sold cars – in Sedro Woolley, Mount Vernon, Bellingham and Ferndale. As sales manager for Fraser Chevrolet in Bellingham, Stub hired a young guy, Jerry Chambers, as a lot boy. Years later, Chambers hired Stub as a salesman.
Stub had a passion for cars.
This wasn’t Stub’s only venture as a restaurateur – years later he would run THE HATCHCOVER restaurant with a friend.
After the war, Stub went to work at Skagit Steel, where he earned his journeyman’s card as a machinist. But, after seven years, he decided to go into business for himself. With a navy buddy, Stub bought a drive in, “Chicken in the Straw” in Burlington. The two men split the cook’s duty and built the business into a favorite lunch spot for locals, especially on game nights.
They welcomed their daughter, Diana, in 1944, while on his second tour.
Stub married Delores (Johnson) in 1942, after completing his first tour.
Stub returned to the Navy for a second hitch, serving in the Pacific until the war ended in 1945. During his naval career, Stub served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington, as well as two cruisers, U.S.S. Salt Lake City and U.S.S. Amsterdam (he had stories to tell about that ship’s “shake down” voyage). He was a Gunners Mate First Class.
He joined the Navy in February 1937. Shortly after finishing his first hitch (where notably he visited Guantanamo and spent time at Pearl Harbor), the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.
In 1929 the Lindstrom family relocated to LaConner, Washington, and later moved to the Sedro Woolley area. Stub graduated from Sedro Woolley High School in 1936 (where he played football, and the drums).
At age 3 1/2, Arnold joined the family of his paternal aunt Hilda and uncle Charles Lindstrom who raised him along with their seven children. Since one of their sons was named Arnold, the Lindstroms called Arnold Joseph “Stub”, a nickname he was known by his whole life.
When his mother Alma died five days later in the Spanish influenza epidemic that swept the nation (followed by Alma's sister Selma and Joseph's brother Oscar the next day, and making his father Joseph critically ill with a collapsed lung), other families stepped in to care for Arnold and his older brother Mickey. Arnold was to be separated from his father, brother, and five younger half-sisters (Ethel, Edith, Hazel, Helen, and Doris) for most of his childhood.
Arnold Joseph “Stub” Johnson was born November 7, 1918 to Alma (Gesvald) and Joseph Johnson in Northwood, North Dakota.
