Allan W. Johnstone

Allan Walter Johnstone passed away at home on November 22 2013, surrounded by loving family and friends, and joined the love of his life, Claudine. Allan met Claudine in 1948, during his Junior Year Abroad in Zurich, Switzerland, married the next year, and they had a wonderful life together until Claudine’s death on July 16, 2013.

Allan was born on August 29, 1929, in Pontiac, Michigan, and earned his undergraduate and Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University, where he graduated first in his class. Later in his career, Allan attended the Sloan Business Management program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he again earned high honors, and had his thesis published. Allan’s career in international marketing, as an executive with Chrysler International, took his family around the world, and they enjoyed living in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Australia. Upon moving back to the United States, to New Canaan, Connecticut, and Lake Forest, Illinois, Allan continued his career in international business, as the International Vice Presidents for Berol Corporation, Midas, and until his retirement, Brunswick Corporation.

Upon Allan’s retirement, he and Claudine moved for several years to Longboat Key, Florida, before deciding that they missed their life in Lake Forest. The desire to spend their later years with their daughters and grandchildren prompted the move to Colorado Springs in 2006. However, Lake Forest remained in their hearts until their deaths.

Allan was predeceased by his wife Claudine, his grandson Jon Van Pelt, and his parents Walter and Kathleen Johnstone. He is survived by his four daughters, Claudette Van Pelt, Laurette Johnstone, Paulette Johnstone, Jeanette Lively, his brother Lewis Johnstone, four grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.

Copy of remarks for Nita

My dad was a wonderful, smart, articulate, and loving man, who always did what he thought was the ‘right’ thing, and tried to instill his values in us. Many times when we were younger we didn’t always agree with him, but over time we recognized that everything he did for us was out of love, and because he wanted only the best for us – and we loved him all the more for it.

I have many wonderful memories of my dad – when we bought a little black and white puppy at the Farmer’s market in Antwerp, the excitement of sitting behind him in a small airplane over the port of Rotterdam, after he earned his pilot’s license; my dad and his friend hiring one of our housekeepers in The Hague, who was a real ‘looker ’with long, painted fingernails who had never done any housework in her life (I think she lasted one day before my mother fired her…); the house filled with the music of Franz Lehar’s operettas; watching him try to do flaming hookers at my wedding reception, which resulted in his burning off his eyebrows just days before he had a important job interview. When he and my mom visited us in Hawaii, I watched him jump into the rocky ‘toilet bowl’, near Hanama Bay, just as the surf came in and filled it up, and I will never forget the wonderful drive we all took along the west coast from San Francisoc to Tacoma….the list of memories is endless.

My dad loved to eat good food, and drink fine wines. Since he travelled overseas a lot for his jobs, he stayed some of the finest hotels, and ate at the best restaurants. It seemed so odd when during the last years of his life, he asked for a McDonalds hamburger and French fries…

He also appreciated beautiful things – he and my mother filled their homes with beautiful things collected during their travels, things which still grace their house today...

At the end, my dad was incredibly brave, and gracious – he missed my mom terribly, but he was polite and considerate to those who took care of him…despite the pain he suffered, he never complained, always said thank you, and constantly expressed his appreciation for his daughters and the ‘girls’ who helped care for him. He spoke often of his family - and gazed daily on the beautiful picture his mom had taken of him and my mom at Niagara Falls during their honeymoon...We miss him very much, but take some comfort that he is again with those who love him, and with the knowledge that we will be together again.