Gil Johnson

H. Gilbert Johnson of Portland passed away Monday, May 17, 2010, following a long illness. He was 83. Born March 16, 1927, in Milton, Mass., Gil was the oldest of six children born to Harry and Ebba Johnson. After graduating high school at age 16, he attended Northeastern University in Boston. He interrupted college to enlist in the U.S. Navy when he turned 18, just as World War II was winding down. The war ended when he was still in basic training. He was part of the charter crew of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, which patrolled the Caribbean and Atlantic after the war. Gil returned to college, graduating from Boston University in 1950. When a cousin got married and moved to the Seattle area, Gil and his best friend drove the couple's car across the country. While the friend took the first train home, Gil took one look at the Pacific Northwest's salmon and was hooked. He stayed. He married Emily Aaberg in 1951, and they had four children, Richard, Tom, Susan and Nancy. Gil spent several years with Union Oil, transferring often between the Portland and Seattle areas. Faced with a promotion that would send him to Southern California, he followed the advice of a high school friend and joined Merrill Lynch where he spent nearly 40 years as a broker in Portland. While many brokers take their clients golfing, Gil never touched a club in his life. His passion was hunting and fishing, which he shared with family, friends, clients and sometimes total strangers. Inspired by second-born son Tom, who had a unique combination of autism and mental impairment, Gil was involved in very early efforts to help all mentally disabled children. He literally helped build the area's first school for mentally disabled children-what is today the Edwards Center in Aloha. He spent countless hours involved in local, state and national advocacy organizations, and in 1978 was elected president of the National Association of Retarded Children, the charity now known as The Arc of the United States. After retiring from Merrill Lynch, Gil often consulted for his old brokerage partners by entertaining clients on a river, in a duck blind or hiking across Eastern Oregon farmland in search of upland birds. There may be only a handful of rivers in Oregon and Washington he never fished. In later years, Gil expanded his horizons, taking fishing trips to Canada, Alaska, Belize, The Bahamas and Russia. A faded wooden duck decoy that was a gift from his father put Gil on a decades-long quest for antique decoys that decorate his Portland home and the family cabin on the Trask River. And many have been blessed with his handcrafted gifts - trivets made of corks from wine bottles and arranged feathers from the many wild turkeys that fell victim to his shotgun. Gil is survived by five siblings, three children and eight grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Emily in 1981, and son Tom in 2002. There will be a viewing from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 22, 2010, and again at 9 a.m. Monday, May 24, in Skyline Memorial Gardens, 4101 N.W. Skyline Blvd., Portland. A celebration of life will follow the viewing at 11 a.m. Monday, May 24. The service will consist of stories from those touched by Gil's life. The family hopes you'll be ready to share a story. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to The Arc of Oregon. Arrangements under the direction of Skyline Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, Portland, OR.

Published in The Oregonian on May 21, 2010