Tuesday 21 June 2016

Ken Johnson - one in a million

When a famous figure, a celebrity, dies there is, quite rightly, a great outpouring of sympathy for his family and lots of newspaper eulogies. The Internet ensures that folk around the world know within hours that they have passed away.  But what happens when Mr or Mrs Unfamous dies? 

There is a funeral – more frequently referred to nowadays as a celebration of their life.  There may be a notice (paid for) in the local newspaper.  Grief-stricken and harassed relatives have to phone around friends and colleagues of the deceased – assuming they know who they were.  And twelve months later only the very closest of their family are likely to recall the anniversary of their death. The Times won’t publish an Obituary and in a couple of generations folk researching their family history will wonder who he or she was and what they were like.

On Saturday I learned of the death of a former colleague at Knowsley Borough Council, Ken Johnson.  He died at the end of February but I wasn’t aware of it until meeting mutual acquaintances last Saturday. Ken held a very senior position within the Council but definitely, like most of us, ranked among the 'unfamous'.


 Ken and I swapped Christmas cards and the occasional Facebook message and he is one of the Council officers I held in the highest regard.  He was honest, skillful, personable, helpful, caring and did his job to the very best of his ability, notwithstanding long-term health issues about which he made no fuss.  A man I am proud to have known.  One could hardly ask for a better eulogy than that. 


His first wife, Sue, died when his son, Matt, was quite young and more recently he became engaged and seemed blissfully happy.  So my sympathies go especially to Alison and Matt but also to Ken himself that he should have missed out on a potentially wonderful future and that his name will hardly go down on record anywhere in a way that will capture what a special person he was.  He may have been 'unfamous' but he was nevertheless one in a million.  

6 comments:

  1. A touching obituary, John, and through your blog it will be read by many people who have never met Ken but will now learn how special he was - almost as if he were a "celebrity".
    It seems particularly unfair that he had only married again last year.

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    1. Meike, I made an error in the first writing of this - now corrected. He and Alison got engaged last year, not married. A technicality I'm only mentioning here because I didn't want people to think you hadn't read it properly.

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  2. Most of us will only "live" as long as those who actually remember us are around. My condolences for the loss of a fine man.

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    1. I'm a great believer that the best one can do in life is enhance the lives of those around you and those you serve. Celebrity matters little but there comes the odd occasion when one feels that someone deserves more than this. Perhaps the Victorians had it right when they erected statues to local folk who appear - with our hindsight - to have done nothing 'special'. Just being themselves was special to theirb contemporaries.

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  3. "One in a million" friends never really leave us....they remain in our hearts forever...he seemed a very nice man.

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  4. I worked for Ken at Knowsley and always found him very caring and considerate. I was at his wedding to Sue and also to Matthew's christening. A lovely man, a sad loss. Only just heard of his death
    Sue Loughran 27.07.16

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