A Tribute
Published 31st October 2003
If there is one thing we can remember Johnny by is that he was a person who really cared about people. He cared about young people. He cared about what St Helena can and will offer them. He cared about the island community. That is why he felt so strongly about Island issues. During his time as a teacher he got to know a lot of young people and was concerned about them, not just as a group but individually. No-one was more pleased than Johnny when our young people did well.
He took up the job as Editor of the St Helena Herald because he felt it was here he could help the community, where he felt the could express the views of the people. His last editorial in the Herald last week sums up what he was trying to do, saying also that it is not easy in a small community to express an opinion that is not popular. The editorial also shows how modest he was in what he thought he had achieved. He ends, thanking the staff of the Herald for their dedicated and enthusiastic efforts, yet if you speak to members of staff themselves you will find just how much has been Johnny’s contribution particularly the help he gave to new people. He was very supportive and generous of his time. Nothing was too much trouble. The staff will also tell you that he had a great sense of humour.
Johnny was part of the Island community. It was home. He felt Saints should be proud of who and what they are and felt he could help but taking an interest in the St Helena dialect. He had started to compile a list of Saint words and supported Emma Jane in her interest in St Helena family names and origins. With Mike they formed a group that extend to other matters of interest and asked me to join the group. He wanted to bring attention to the public of the rich history of the Island and its people.
He was a person of varied interests including music and art. He was helping to restore the stain-glass windows in St James Church. What he was also interested in was cooking and would borrow and pour over cookery books, reading them as one would read a popular novel.
His care for people and the Island community is reflected in the number of messages that have been received. They have come from family, friends, people he worked with, officials and show the wide respect he had. All these messages are not being read out today but extracts from two of them will show just how much Johnny has been appreciated for what he had done for the Island:
From Friends in the Falklands: He did his best, always. Johnny was a true
Scot, kind, generous, gentle and a true friend.
From Clive Warren of DFID: “We shall miss his penetrating wit and deep
personal commitment to the Island and its people.”
Next time you drive off the main road from White Gate to Hutt’s Gate along Gordon’s Post Road stop at the first bay. It is here that you would often see Johnny at the end of a day sitting in his car watching the sunset. He could not see the sun itself setting but he could see the effects of the sun on the countryside, especially the changing light and colour on Flagstaff and the Barn. He would stay until there was no light, no colour. He would stay and keep the memory of what it was like before the sun set.
This is the memory we will keep alive of Johnny, the varied colours and light of his life and his concern for the Island and its people.
Mike Olsson & Basil George
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Email: FM@cwimail.sh | independent@cwimail.sh | studio@cwimail.sh