Manjit Kaur Johar

Manjit Kaur Johar passed away peacefully on December 26th, 2025, just shy of her 90th birthday. Up until the end, Manjit maintained her love of family and friends, her caring, her compassion, and an appreciation for her full and beautiful life. Manjit's life can be summed up by four words: family, friends, flowers, and food.

Manjit was born January 12, 1936, and grew up in the Punjab region of India and called Jalandhar her home. She attended Punjab University, earning degrees in mathematics and education. In 1960 she married Jogindar Singh Johar and in 1963 they moved to the United States. They lived briefly in Florida, Idaho, and Tennessee before settling down in Wayne, Nebraska in 1968. In Wayne, Manjit became a part of the community and was known throughout the region for her amazing cooking, her beautiful flower gardens, and her passionate love of her family. Manjit and Jogindar raised three sons in Wayne. The family stayed active in school, sports, scouting, 4-H, acting, speech & debate, and other activities, which meant Manjit would put her career on hold and stay very busy driving everyone to and from their activities. Everyone in town knew her red station wagon with an extra pillow in the driver’s seat so Manjit could safely see over the steering wheel. She was her children’s biggest fan, cheerleader, and supporter.

In addition to raising her boys, Manjit earned two master’s degrees from Wayne State College and worked with the local Regional Services office in Wayne, eventually returning to her teaching roots as a special education teacher at Walthill Community Schools. In her free time, she and her husband built and maintained a flower and vegetable garden where she could grow vegetables for her cooking which were not available locally. Together they spent countless hours planting, weeding, feeding, and raising their gardens in Wayne until her retirement in 2001. When Manjit and Jogindar relocated to Chesterfield, MO after retirement they started a new life surrounded by many new friends, family nearby, and grandchildren. Together, the Johars built new beautiful gardens for their new home as well as an indoor greenhouse to keep life blooming year-round. Manjit's passion for amazing cooking continued as she and her husband hosted many large parties for family and friends. She was known to be an excellent cook by any standard, but her home cooked Indian meals were loved by anyone who visited her home. You were simply not allowed to go home without a full belly, fond memories, and probably a container of leftovers. The aroma of her curries will live on in many people’s memories. Family, friends, flowers and food permeated her day-to-day life.

Manjit will be remembered as a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and an excited great-grandmother. She would quickly pull out old photo albums and proudly look back on the many family vacations, events, and people from her life. She was loyal to her friends, but nothing was more important than family. And her family was broad. Nieces and nephews in Canada, California, India, and across the globe all shared in her loving embrace and she treasured every single person in her extended family. Whether it was raising family, building friendships, or growing flowers, Manjit was always putting down roots which would flourish for a very long time.

Manjit was preceded in death by her husband Dr Joginder Singh Johar, her parents Tirlok Singh and Iqbal Kaur Sodhia and her sister Harbhajan Kaur Sethi. She is survived by her three sons Ravijot Singh (Ravi and his wife Kay), Jasjot Singh (Jassi and his wife Amy), and Navjot Singh (Vinny and his wife Sabrina), seven grandchildren: Katelyn, Jamie, Alex, Jackson, Megan, Jenna, and Lucas; and one great-granddaughter Lily. She also has three living brothers, Sukhbir, Kulbir, and Harinder.