Kathleen Johnson

Kathleen (Kay) Johnson (97) passed away at Pinewood Court, her home for the past five years, on January 16, 2019. Born in Lloydminster, SK on Oct. 9, 1921, the only child of Scottish immigrants Robert and Marian Allen, she lost her mother at the age of 19 months. An English couple living nearby offered to take her in, Robert Allen agreed, and that is how Kathleen came to be forever indebted to Martha and Edward Babey and their family. 

Kathleen was born with congenital hip dysplasia but always felt grateful to have grown up on a farm where there was no shortage of food during the Great Depression, to have been able to ride her horse to school, and to have participated fully with her foster family in church and community activities. After high school in Lloydminster, she went to normal school in Saskatoon, graduating in the class of 1942. The early years of her career were spent in rural one room schoolhouses; she was a true pioneer.

While in Saskatoon, she met Bertil and Arthur Johnson, identical twins from Alcona, ON, soldiers in training to being sent overseas. Kathleen and Bertil corresponded during the war and married in Streamstown, AB on July 5, 1948. She left her Prairie home and family and moved all the way to Port Arthur, renting a flat in a house owned by Art Squitti on Secord St., and started a new life as a wife and mother, giving birth to daughters Kathie and Eileen, and son Arthur. In 1961, with help from the DVA, Kay and Bert bought their own home on Bailey Avenue in Westfort.

By 1956, Kathleen had resumed her teaching career, first in Lone Rock, SK, and later Atikokan, South Stanley, and Macdiarmid. Upon Bert’s tragic death in a fire in 1970, she quit immediately. On the advice of a former principal, Kathleen became a camp cook for Domtar in Beardmore and later for the MNR. She finished her working life in Marwayne, AB on the farm of her nephew, Don Boyce, a member of the Babey family.

Despite her physical disability, Kathleen had great stamina. She loved gardening and sharing her plants and knowledge with neighbours, cooking and baking, playing bingo and cards, and had a hearty recognizable laugh. Her home was always open to anyone needing a bed or a meal for as long as they wanted to stay; she was generous to a fault.

Kathleen is survived by daughter Kathie (Anthony Peotto) and grandsons: Thomas, Joseph (Kate) in Taipei, Taiwan, James (Jordyn); daughter Eileen (Adrian Vazquez) in Vancouver; son Arthur (Molly Mackinnon), only grand-daughter Morgaine, grandson Robert (Marty), in Calgary; nephew John Berringer (Rowena Lass) Kenora; nieces Pat Smith (David Bahrynowski) and Wendy Smith of Vancouver; chosen daughter Shirley Malanych, Toronto; as well as remaining Babey family members: Arlene Frolick, Regina, Don Boyce, Lloydminster, Colleen Burrows (Danny), Calgary, Diana McLean (Gene), Toronto, Grant Cheley (Wendy), Lloydminster.

She was pre-deceased by her parents (Marian and Robert Allen), husband Bertil, and foster family (Martha, Ted, Irene, Norman, Elsie Babey).

We would like to sincerely thank the caring staff of Kingfisher, Pinewood Court who did their best for a once fiercely independent woman who, through age and infirmity, had come to rely on their help for every aspect of her daily life, not an easy transition for a proud “stubble jumper”. You are the unsung heroes of the medical system. Special thanks to her favourite, Craig.

Funeral services for Kathleen will be held on Saturday, February 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Jenkens Funeral Home, 226 S. Syndicate Avenue. Internment to follow at a later date. If friends so desire, memorial donations to Our Kids Count or St. Thomas Church Family Giving Centre would be greatly appreciated.