Former AWNA President, Hugh Johnston has passed away
We are sad to report that former AWNA President Hugh Johnston passed on Nov. 27 in Creston, B.C. He was two days shy of turning 81. His daughter-in-law Karen Johnston said, “it was a very short fight and he passed very peacefully with wife Mary Ann, son Russell and granddaughter Kali with him.”
Anyone wanting to share condolences are welcome to send them to Karen and she will ensure Mary Ann gets them all.
karen.johnston@blackpress.ca
As former AWNA President George Brown so aptly put it when presenting Hugh with his 25-year Silver Quill, “Uncle Hug, as he is known to many of you, is, as I often lament, one of the few characters remaining in our association.”
“Hugh has done it all at a modern community newspaper: editor, publisher, ad salesman, reporter, photographer, darkroom tech and columnist to the lovelorn. Well, that was actually short-lived. Here’s a sample of his unorthodox advice:
Dear Uncle Hug: I am only 19 and I stayed out until 2 o’clock the other night. My mother objects. Did I do wrong?
And Hugh’s response: I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
Hugh started his newspaper career while teaching at Keewatin Community College at The Pas, in northern Manitoba, writing a sports column in his spare time at The Pas Herald.
In 1969 Hugh’s Short Snorts column was born, one that continued everywhere Hugh worked after that. Hugh left his position at the college in 1979 and headed west, working for the Alberta Report for two years, then it was on to Peace River, where he worked for the North Peace Pictorial for several years, until he found his home as editor of the Devon Dispatch in May of 1985, where he stayed until handing over the reins to George Brown in 1998. In 1987 Hugh and Mary Ann purchased the La Nouvelle in Beaumont.
Like many AWNA publishers, Hugh was a community-builder, serving with the Devon and Beaumont Chambers of Commerce, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Lions Club, and moderating various election forums in both communities. Hugh sat on the AWNA Board of Directors from 1989 until 1996, becoming president in 1994. He also was appointed to a two-year term on the Alberta Press Council.
