Former Douglas County Sheriff Rex Johnson returned home Wednesday after successful triple-bypass heart surgery.

Johnson’s wife, Shirley, said her 74-year-old husband was hospitalized last week at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., and had the surgery Friday.

Upon his return home, Shirley Johnson said the longtime sheriff was doing well and working to regain his strength.

Johnson was sheriff throughout much of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.