Kathleen Mary Johnson

Kay slipped away peacefully after a long life well-lived, with her daughter and son beside her, on June 28.

The only daughter of E.J; and Ida Cox, Kay was born March 25, 1919, in Estevan, SK. She moved with her parents and brothers, Fred and Bill, to North Battleford then Battleford at the age of 6, and to Langley in 1931, where her parents founded the Langley Advance newspaper. Kay attended Langley Prairie Elementary and Langley High School, then Normal School in Vancouver, earning her teaching certificate in 1940. While she was a teen, she was active in the work of Langley United Church, playing the organ for Church and Sunday School, teaching Sunday School classes for many years, and participating in C.G.I.T. and Young Peoples’ groups.

Kay started doing the bookkeeping for the newspaper at the age of fourteen, and after teaching for a few months in 1940, she started working full-time for the Advance when brother Fred joined the R.C.A.F. Because male printers were almost impossible to hire during the war, Kay learned to run all the machinery in the shop and took over much of the printing work to help out her Dad, as well as writing many of the news articles and keeping the books.

In 1943, Kay married Warrant Officer George Johnson of the R.A.F. They lived in Swift Current and Moncton while George was an instructor in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In 1944, George returned to England to join Bomber Command and Kay came back to Langley to work for the Advance for the duration. After the war, Fred returned, George joined the staff, and Kay worked in and ran the front office until the paper was sold to Jim Schatz in 1976. During the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Kay was active in Kinettes, the Red Cross, and the Auxiliary to the Royal Canadian Legion.

Kay was a woman of fierce determination, great fortitude, and immense generosity. She was conscientious to a fault, unfailingly loyal to her friends, and the best and most caring of mothers. When she loved, she loved unconditionally and with all her heart. Bright and curious, she was intensely interested in people, and she inspired trust:-- many people, friends and strangers alike, came to her with their troubles and their confidences. She was an avid reader all her life until she lost her sight. Coming from a newspaper family and being E.J.’s daughter, she had a passion for politics and current affairs. In her youth, she loved to dance, When she had her health, she loved to garden, golf, and play badminton and bridge. At all times she loved her families, the one in which she was a daughter and the one in which she was a mother, and gave them her all.

Kay is sadly missed by her devoted daughter, Judy, in Langley; loving son Chris, daughter-in-law Barbara Donovan and grandson, Zachary, in Winnipeg; sister-in-law Betty Cox and her family; cousin John Jeffrey and his family; and many others whose lives were touched by Kay., including her many recent but dear friends at Cedar Hill residential care facility. Kay’s family would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Coulter and the staff at Cedar Hill for the care they gave Mom in her last years and the compassion they showed to her. Kay was pre-deceased by brother Bill in 1927; niece Linda Dillon in 1972; father E.J. in 1974, mother Ida in 1975, and husband George and brother Fred in 1981.

Internment will be in Langley Lawn Cemetery. In respect for Kay’s wishes, there will be no funeral ceremony and in lieu of flowers, donations to Langley Memrorial Hospital in Kay’s memory would be much appreciated.

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, Langley, BC.