Jean Johnson

1928 - 2018

Every year an estimated 1.5 million Canadians over 65 take a bad fall. On Monday, Feb. 5, with plans well under way to celebrate her 90th birthday, Jean Agnes Johnson (nee Black) -- beloved, wife, mother, grandmother and, now, great-grandmother – became one of them. Three days later, after her family had gathered, she passed away in hospital. A proud Schreiber girl, Jean was born in the North Shore rail town April 8, 1928, the second of two daughters for Bill and Bunty Black. She shared a charmed childhood with big sister Sheila, growing up on “Talcum Powder Row” (the CPR's chief clerk merited a company home). Something of a tomboy, Jean preferred hockey and softball to Bunty's community theatre and the local Women's Institute run by her feisty school-marm grandmother. Still, after high school, she left Schreiber to follow in her grandma's footsteps (although some jokers claim she enrolled at the North Bay Normal School because Bill was an Odd Fellow). Upon graduating, she headed west to Central Public School in Kenora (six decades later, a former student still recognized her in a Florida parking lot). Also in Kenora she met a young carpenter from Wabigoon who took her skiing, canoeing and, in 1950, to the altar. Which cost Jean her job (back then, women teachers had to be Miss) but led to a family – sons Jerry and Clark plus daughter Nancy. Life was good, although Jean appeared to be raising the kids alone: Ken, as a builder, often worked dawn to dusk. So in 1962 he too went off to teacher training in Toronto and, to make ends meet, Jean returned to the classroom (being Mrs. was okay now). Ken landed a job at Hammarskjold High, and the family moved to what's now Thunder Bay, where Jean was to spend the rest of her life. Reunited with her parents (Bill had retired to Fort William), she devoted herself to running the house, and later going back to work part time, at Sears rather than in the classroom. She enjoyed curling, cards and cross-country skiing, and also crossed the country on camping trips, which ended in 1972 when Ken built their getaway on Lac des Milles Lacs. There they spent endless hours fishing for pickerel and (her true obsession) beating the bears to the best blueberries, assisted by any visiting grandchildren (seven in all). She and Ken also renewed family ties in Scotland (her) and Sweden (him). When he retired, they went farther afield, seeing Australia and New Zealand before becoming snowbirds, drawn south every winter for more than 20 years. Through it all, she was funny, gentle and kind-- traits tested but never bested as her health declined in later years. As well as husband Ken, she leaves Jerry and Louise of Toronto, Clark and Cindy of Thunder Bay and Nancy and Jerry Panchuk of Calgary, along with Toronto grandchildren Gretchen (Mase) and Amy, Thunder Bay's Brita, Craig (Michelle) and Brent (Crystal) and Graham and Sienna of Calgary. Last summer, Jean lost much-loved sister Sheila just weeks before becoming a great grandmother, thanks to Gretchen and Mase, with the arrival of baby Leyla. She will also be missed by sisters-in-law Ruth Carrie of Coldstream, B.C., Sharon (Bob) McGillivray and Mary (Don) Ashton, both of Dryden, as well as nephew Bruce Turner and wife Cathie of Bracebridge, Ont. Since arriving in the Lakehead, Jean has been a member of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 10 Farrand St., where a lunchtime service in her honour will be held Monday at 1 p.m., followed by interment at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Jean's family would like to thank Hogarth Riverview Manor, especially Spruce Wing, for its care and compassion. Also, special thanks to staff at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Centre, for providing stellar care during her final hours. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jean's memory may be made to the Alzheimer's Society Thunder Bay or TBRH Foundation's “Hearts at Home” campaign.