Small-town cop tracks struggle in spiritual journal

LEXINGTON, Ill.-Spencer Johansen has been the popular police chief of this rural Illinois town, population 1,900, for 18 years and always thought he’d retire here. But then some seemingly inexplicable things started happening. “I missed a couple of court dates, nothing major, they were just minor traffic cases,” he said. “But … that wasn’t like […]

LEXINGTON, Ill.-Spencer Johansen has been the popular police chief of this rural Illinois town, population 1,900, for 18 years and always thought he’d retire here. But then some seemingly inexplicable things started happening. “I missed a couple of court dates, nothing major, they were just minor traffic cases,” he said. “But … that wasn’t like me.” He decided to check with his doctor, and his family physician delivered the diagnosis: the early onset of Alzheimer’s. From the first days after his diagnosis, Johansen began keeping what he calls a “spiritual journal,” a frank portrayal of his struggle to accept his diagnosis. Johansen quit going to Mass on Sunday and he fell into a deep depression. Then he noticed a sign by the local Lutheran church: “When All Else Fails, Trust God.” It finally dawned on him, he said, that “this message was meant for me.”

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