Marjorie Johnson, the witty home baker who was a perennial Minnesota State Fair ribbon winner for more than five decades, died Thursday at the age of 106.

Son Steven Johnson said she moved to Little Hospice in Edina on Wednesday afternoon. Staff thought she’d be there for weeks.

“She went real fast, peaceful,” he said.

As for the family point of pride that she was the oldest person to win a State Fair blue ribbon: “She liked to win,” he said.

Marjorie Johnson, who was born in 1919 and lived in Robbinsdale, began entering her baked goods in the Minnesota State Fair competitions in 1974 — and won three ribbons that year. Over the years since then, she went on to win over 3,000 more state and county fair ribbons, including two at the 2025 State Fair for her honey yeast bread and gingersna

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