This is a column about my friend and brother-in-law, Al Johnson, who just died after a four-year struggle with a brain tumor. He was only 32.
Al fell in love with my sister, Gaye, and married her nine years ago. It was her second marriage, and Al not only embraced her but her three children with a rare enthusiasm. His love and cheerfulness clearly changed their lives and gave them a higher level of happiness. He instilled in them an unmistakable strength that they still retain, the strength that helped them to survive the pain of his illness.Joe, Bob and Mike are now concentrating on the happier times. Some of those times were devoted to sports, where Al expended enormous energy, identifying strongly with the University of Utah. He attended the home games, he and Gaye wearing twin U. sweat shirts and cheering the home team. All of our family had some interesting and active basketball games in Al's back yard. People of all ages played, and Al, as I remember, was not a great outside shot but an excellent passer and team player.
Al enjoyed being a Democrat in a Republican state. He spoke about politics with knowledge that came from intensive reading and animated conversation with many people. He could hold his own with anyone on the topic. He and I could always have a lively political conversation and usually did when I visited and even when we talked long distance.
An especially warm memory I have pertains to a wedding of our niece in Washington, D.C. Al and I were appointed by the family to take a large van to be refueled and then to collect several passengers and drive them to the wedding. Because I detest driving unwieldy vehicles, I thought I had pulled off a coup by talking Al into driving the van. He was in his element. He put on a hat and played the role of a bus driver with special verve, including skill in turning corners and handling steep hills, as well as furnishing entertaining repartee and engaging in convivial conversation with the passengers.
That little incident was representative of his life to me. He lived life with gusto, a rare enthusiasm that was contagious. He was unusually well-rounded in his activities and interests, a man who worked hard at his job at the credit union, as well as his play, and who carefully devoted himself to his wife and family.
He had a warm personality, a way of reaching out and involving people in his life in a generous, sincere way. He developed a special relationship with our family, his family by adoption, appreciating our accomplishments and blending in effectively with our senses of humor.
Al had unusual compassion for others. He established a genuine rapport with our mother and father, and when they died, it was clear that he loved them as we did. He sensed how great that loss was for us, even though they died in advanced years. Before and during the funerals of each, he concentrated on comforting us. He literally put his substantial arm around both my brother and me, consoling us, trying to give us strength. It seemed very unusual at the time, since he was much younger than either of us.
Al was a very young man who had acquired a maturity and wisdom beyond those years, enabling him to lead others, to teach children, to be an impressive and devoted husband and father. He always shouldered responsibility squarely.
Gaye said that it seemed to her that he was already about 20 when he was born.
That thought is somewhat helpful in dealing with his early death. He handled his illness in an especially courageous way, determined from the beginning to conquer it, facing each test as it surfaced without fear and encouraging his family to do the same. He often explained his illness in clinical terms, sounding to me very much like a physician. He used pictures and graphics and demonstrated an admirable curiosity even about this sad chapter in his life. His inquiring mind seems an appropriate legacy to his family.
Like so many other people whose productive lives have ended too soon, he will be missed. Those who remain struggle with the void and try to take comfort in the vigorous living he packed into a short time. For some time Gaye and the kids will feel that overpowering emptiness, especially in the mornings. All who knew Al hope that they will continue to live life with the same vigor that he did. That would be the best tribute they could make to him.