---

In 1945 when Lillian Bloom accepted an invitation to visit her childhood sweetheart Les Johnson,  at his Naval base in Corpus Christi, she had no clue that he would ask her to marry him.  But he did, and she said yes. And within days, at the ripe old ages of 20 and 21, the two were joined by God.
 
Lil enjoys re-telling how Les had to get his mother’s permission,  which she diligently wired back to the Naval base. Obviously, Mother made a good call because Lil and Les just celebrated their 70th anniversary September 29.

And, after decades together they are still poking fun with each other and a stranger who is meeting them for the first time, and finds spending a morning in their presence very enjoyable.
They marked their 70 year milestone with a party for family and loved ones at their Lindstrom church, Lakes Free.

Faith has been more than a theme to live by.  As Lil puts it, “We believe the Lord lives inside of us. Our life has been a walk with the Lord.  He has directed the paths in our life.”  They recite in unison a devotion they have uttered aloud everyday of their lives together.

And, these two believers’ paths converged quite early on.

Les grew up in downtown Shafer where his father was a potato broker. Lil shared a farmhome with a bunch of brothers in the Franconia countryside (Bloom’s Lake carries the family surname),  As kids,  Les and Lil were fast friends.   They held hands on the school bus.

When the war erupted,  18-year-old Les was motivated to enlist in the Navy, because he wanted to fly aircraft.   
Even this desire seems to have surfaced by way of divine intervention.  

Les shares a story from his boyhood about a plane that landed on the outskirts of Shafer, and was parked there for days while repair parts were secured.   He and his buddies couldn’t stay away, though. “We climbed all over it and we probably shouldn’t have,” Les remembers.

He decided to be a pilot.  He muses, that for him personally the war actually presented opportunity, but also pain; a brother died on an aircraft carrier.

When Les left the Navy he was up against lots of competition for pilot jobs.  He did some crop-dusting while he lobbied Northwest Airlines for employment back here in Minnesota, and he finally was hired.  

He retired in 1990 with no serious in flight incidents, and with enough close calls to leave him appreciative of his good fortune.  He suffered a minor stroke while on duty and a co-pilot took over.  The flight was met by an ambulance on the tarmac and Les feared that he’d never fly again.   But, with Lil by his side he returned to the skies, for which he is still amazed and grateful.  
Les and Lil have also stared down cancer together and sustained the heartbreaking loss of the eldest of their five children.

They found their way back to Chisago County when they down-sized the family home, west of the Twin Cities,  to return to this area they love. They first got a townhouse in the Ecumen Parmly LifePointes community, and about four years ago,  moved a few blocks into the Fairway Lane apartments, where Lil is kind of a celebrity for her piano playing at Ecumen social events.  

---