S. Dick Johnston

S. Dick Johnston, 84, died in DeLand, Florida on May 5, 2015. He was born on October 6, 1930 at DeLand Memorial Hospital on North Stone Street in DeLand. A native son of DeLand, Dick
was the second child of Sidney Paul Johnston and Constance Corbin Johnston. His grandfather, Sydney Weller Johnston, arrived in Volusia County in 1881 and the parents of his grandmother (Bertha Bennett Johnston) were Dr. Basil Bennett and Mrs. Virginia Davis Bennett, who arrived in DeLand in 1877. Through the Corbin lineage of his mother, Dick was a descendant of Clement Corbin who came from England to Massachusetts in the 1640s. As a child, Dick attended church and Sunday School at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and he was educated in the public schools of DeLand. Dick attended Wisconsin Avenue Elementary School and played varsity basketball for DeLand High School, from which he graduated in 1948. He attended the University of Florida until January 1950, when he returned to DeLand to work in the family business - the E.O. Painter Printing Company. Six months after the outbreak of the Korean War, Dick entered military service, enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. Trained as a mechanic, he served two tours of duty and was stationed at U.S. Air Bases in Itazuke and Misawa, Japan, where he repaired and serviced Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter transports and Republic F-84 Thunderjet fighter-bombers. Dick loved to tell stories, even stories about his experiences in the Korean War, and especially his return to the U.S. after his second tour in 1953. Finding conditions desperately cold at Misawa Air Base, Dick landed at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, where he fell to his knees and let the heat from the tarmac radiate into his hands and knees. He said he was never so glad to feel heat burn through his body. He was also fond of saying that he served his country in military service, so that his sons would not have to serve. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1954 from the U.S. Air Force, Dick returned to DeLand, where he joined his father and brother, Donald Corbin Johnston, in the family business. His career in the family business spanned seven decades, during which time Dick served as Vice-President and President of the E.O. Painter Printing Company. He cultivated and completed contracts for many private authors and over the course of his career printed journals for various academic and professional organizations, including Chemical Engineering Education, Florida Engineer, Florida Historical Quarterly, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Hyacinth Control Society Journal, Journal of Aquatic Plant Management, Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society, Proceedings of the Soil and Crop Science Society of Florida, Southern Speech Communication Journal, Journal of Library History, and University of Florida Law Review. Dick married Ruth Ellen Kukura on June 16, 1956 in First Presbyterian Church of DeLand, where they contributed to the life of the church. They raised four sons: Sidney Philip Johnston (Ginger Preston-Johnston), Jeffrey Brian Johnston (Donna DeMarsh Johnston), William Corbin Johnston (Noriko Kishi), and Mark Austin Johnston (Erin Moyer Johnston) and they also rejoiced in four grandchildren: Preston Johnston, Charlotte Johnston, Olivia Johnston, and Benjamin Johnston, all of whom survive him. His brother, Donald C. Johnston, also survives him. Two sons - Jeffrey Johnston and Mark Johnston - continue in the family business as fourth-generation printers. Dick's civic and religious activities and service included chair of a pastoral search committee at First Presbyterian Church of DeLand; member of the Volusia County Historic Preservation Board; founding member, past president, and board member of the West Volusia Historical Society; and coach of Babe Ruth baseball teams. Dick delighted in riding America's trains and collecting standard-gauge model trains, researching family history, playing racquetball and tennis, working around the church, watching sports, and sharing stories with friends and family. Dick's ashes will be committed in the Memory Garden of First Presbyterian Church of DeLand, next to Ruth, his wife of fifty-three years. A memorial service and reception will be held at First Presbyterian Church of DeLand on May 16, 2015 at 10 AM. The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Halifax Health Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, 3800 Woodbriar Trail, Port Orange, FL 32129.