Irene Martha Johnson of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, who taught in the primary grades at Oak Knoll School in the Menlo Park School District from 1961 to 1995, died Sept. 16. She was 81.

Ms. Johnson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and graduated with a degree in elementary education from the University of Minnesota. She later received a master's degree in education from Stanford University.

After graduation, she taught in Minnesota, England, and Germany before moving to Palo Alto.

She will be remembered for her love of travel, books, learning, the arts, playing the piano, and for instilling an appreciation of these things in her nieces and nephews, say family members.

She is survived by her sister-in-law, Diane Johnson, brothers-in-law Richard Weiss and Denis Bakke; and seven nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

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