Obituary of Carrol Johnston

Carrol Roy Johnston left this earth for a better place on May 15, 2012. Carrol was born on June 4, 1928 to Marvin and Ada (Wilson) Johnston. He was raised on the family farm eighteen miles north of Seibert on the Kit Carson/Washington County Line along with his brothers Lowell, Marion and the twins Keith and Kenneth and his sisters Lois and Ruby. When Carrol was 14 he was working on a chicken coop when a nail put out his right eye. He was already an avid hunter by this time so he had to learn to shoot using his left eye. In 1947 Carrol Graduated from High School in Cope, CO. he was the first one of his brothers and sisters to graduate from high school. In 1949 he married Norma Jeanne Huffman, to this union a son Larry Wayne Johnston was born April 1951. Carrol continued living on the farm until he contacted rheumatic fever in 1955. The dirt was blowing very bad during this time frame and was told to get out of Colorado for health reasons, so much to the chagrin of his son he sold his 1945 Harley Army motorcycle and loaded up his black 1950 ford and moved to California. When he arrived in California he started working at General Cable Corp. He worked there for several years, and then moved to Ft. Bragg, California and worked the green chain at the lumber mill. He changed jobs to better his family and worked at Aero Jet Corporation that provided government contracts to the aero space industry. In 1963 they lost a major government contract and he was laid off. He moved back to the farm North of Seibert. From 1963-1967 he worked on the family farm in partnership with his brother Marion. In April of 1967 he joined the Burlington Police Department. He stayed with the Burlington PD until January 1968, where he became the Undersheriff with the Kit Carson County Sheriff Office under Jack Heide. He was Undersheriff until the end of Jack’s term. He then took over the Burlington Chief of Police position in 1971 until his retirement in 1997. In 1962 he divorced Jeanne, and August of 1963 he brought his fiancée Patricia (Hayton) Millsap and her three children Gerald, Theodore and Gayle back to Colorado to live. They were married in Cope Colorado September 5, 1963. To this union May 3, 1964 Shannon Carol was born. Now, he had one big happy family with 3 boys and 2 girls. Gayle asked her “poppy” to adopt her at the ripe ole age of 25 in which he gladly did. In raising his children, he never ever thought of the kids of being step kids nor did he treat them that way, they were all his kids. Throughout his life time Carrol had many hobbies, shooting sports being the main one. In California he and his brother Marion became avid trap shooters spending many hours sitting at the reloading bench with home made dies reloading shells for the next weekend. Upon returning to Colorado he continued trap shooting traveling all over eastern Colorado. He was able later on to get a progressive reloading machine where he could really crank out the shells. He also was an avid hunter going deer, duck, and pheasant hunting when ever he could get the chance. He also enjoyed going to the pistol range shooting one of his many pistols, or shooting his sharps at silhouettes. Other hobbies included metal detecting; he really liked detecting at Fort Wallace, Ks where he had a treasure chest filled with items he had found in that area. He loved to garden where he canned or just gave away the produce. When he lived in Burlington, we remember several people just driving down the alley just to look at it. He enjoyed traveling to California to see the in-laws and the family members or going to Washington State to see his son, and Northern Idaho to see his oldest son. He always liked to see new country to see what was over the next hill. In August of 1992, he lost his wife Pat and at her request he laid her to rest in California because she didn’t want the Colorado wind blowing in her face for all eternity. Several years later he met Grace Ruddell and lived with her until her death. In 2000 he sold his home in Burlington and moved to Bethune to live next door to his daughter Shannon, where he lived until March of this year. With failing health he was placed in Grace Manor Care Center, where he remained until his death. Carrol was preceded in death by both of his parents Marvin and Ada (Wilson) Johnston, his brothers Lowell, Marion, Keith, Kenneth and sister Lois. Also preceding him in death were wives Jeanne and Patricia, nieces Cecilia and Meredith and numerous other family members. He is survived by his sister Ruby Scott of Twin Falls Id. son Gerald (Jerry) of Spirit Lake, ID, Son Theodore (Ted) and wife Marcy of Montrose, CO., son Larry of Burlington, Co., daughters Gayle and husband John Dunn of Chico, Ca. and Shannon and husband Hal Reeder of Bethune, CO. Carrol was blessed with 15 Grandchildren and 17 Great Grandchildren.