1933 – 2018

Al Johnson was born on Bible Hill, Nova Scotia in 1933. Despite the promising home town name, pretty much from the start he leaned more Nova Scotia forests than Bible. Returning successfully from an early hunting trip, he was indignant his family gave him trouble for being late to church with dirty shirt, so he hit the road.

And travel he did. He remembers 54 countries, and every continent except Antarctica. As they don’t grow anything fermentable that far south, he didn’t think it worth the trouble. And in all those 54 countries, he told stories and had a drink with someone. Yes, he even managed to get a drink in the Islamic Republic of Iran and to share some stories with the people there, which gives you a good measure of the man. The stock market, hunting, and fishing were his main themes, but he had a depth and breadth of topics that demanded the stories always stray from the original narrative to cover multiple topics. Sometimes he told the same story more than once and occasionally he might even finish the story he started, but he would always tell you a good story!

Always moving, he claimed to work for CN Rail, the Quebec, North Shore and Labrador Railroad and various plumbing and heating outfits, but generally found them to get in the way of more important things like hunting, fishing and traveling the world.

Al moved to Kamloops in 1961, where the CN finally gave in and gave him a decent amount of time to explore the world. Along the way, he found time to marry an Australian named Claire, have a son named Dave, a daughter-in-law named Leah and a granddaughter named Claire. It is possible he spoiled the granddaughter on occasion. They are going to miss him, because even when they thought they had heard all the stories, he would find something new to share with them.

He claimed to be a Poor Old Pensioner once he retired, but between gold panning, mountain biking, skiing, looking at elephants in Zimbabwe, fishing, hunting, drinking red wine, going to Carnival in Rio, and arguing with friends about the stock market, he lived a rich life. On December 8, 2018 he was doing moose calls with his friends and on December 9, he passed away in his sleep.

Al didn’t have much time for funerals or flowers. So, to remember him, the family asks that you go and buy a cheap bottle of red wine and go share it with your favorite grumpy old man. Don’t worry about the truth content of his stories, just enjoy sharing them with him.

Condolences may be expressed at www.kamloopsfuneralhome.com

• Date : 2018-12-10
• Location : Kamloops, B.C.