Crystal Lake man paralyzed in workplace accident in ’07 has died: ‘Was just a good guy’

Fox River Grove native Jeffrey “JJ” Johnson was being remembered for his positivity after his death earlier this month.

Johnson died Aug. 10 at the age of 58. He had lived with quadriplegia after he was injured at a construction workplace in 2007 when he was 41. Despite the injuries and years of hospital stays, he was able to have “a good life,” said his mother Eleanor Stegman.

“Ninety-eight of the time he was upbeat and positive. He was good at that. There would be times he would get down because he wanted to do more but he couldn’t,” said Stegman, who formerly owned Dead End Bar and Grill in Fox River Grove.

Stegman described Johnson as “an ambassador to goodwill.” While in the hospital, he would visit others and always tried to get people to smile, she said.

Johnson spent a lot of his time in his Crystal Lake home, where he would fondly name all of the wild animals including birds, chipmunks and squirrels that he would see at the nearby creek, Stegman said.

Many fond memories Stegman has of her son involve the nurses who took care of him. She remembers how he would go outside and fish in Algonquin and when one of the nurses caught a walleye, they cooked it up for dinner. Another time, nurses took Johnson to a White Sox game as he was a huge fan, his sister Audrey Stegman said.

“He almost always had a smile on his face,” Eleanor Stegman said.

Besides baseball and fishing, his passions included nature and trucks. He was part of the car community called “Mudders Only” and would always win trophies at car shows, she said.

One day, while Johnson was at one of his favorite spots at the Crystal Lake Main Beach, a little girl came up to him with a bracelet she made. She gave it to him as a gift after regularly seeing him at that spot, and Johnson wore the bracelet until the day he died, his mother said.

“That girl has to be 18 now,” she said. “And he wore it all that time.”

“His thoughtful gestures, whether big or small, were a constant reminder of the kind of person he was – one who always put the needs of others before his own,” according to an obituary on the Kahle-Moore funeral website.

“His time ran out and he’s now at peace,” Eleanor Stegman said. “He just was a good guy.”

A visitation took place in Cary Tuesday.

Besides his mother and sister, Johnson is survived by siblings Jim Johnson and Judy (Bill) Dolan and his niece Danielle Stegman.