Donald E. Johnson

OTISFIELD – Donald E. Johnson of Otisfield passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022 at the age of 92. Don was born in South Portland on July 18, 1930 to Forrest and Elfra (Eastman) Johnson.

The middle child of seven children, in his early teens he worked at a fish processing factory on the South Portland Waterfront to supplement his family’s income. This was a fitting role for him being the descendant of several generations who earned their living on and from the ocean as either merchant shippers or fisherman. And true to his ancestry, he talked often about his time lobstering from a small boat off Willard beach as a hobby during these teen years.

He graduated South Portland High School in 1948 and joined the Marines. After returning to Maine, he joined the Portland Press Herald, Evening Express and Maine Sunday Telegram as a staff photographer. During these years he won several photojournalism awards. Don’s photos documented many significant events in Maine’s history including the last steam engine to leave Maine, the last log drive, the destruction of Union Station as well as many buildings in both Portland and Westbrook razed in the name of urban renewal including the clearing of the site that would become the Cumberland County Civic Center now known as the Cross Insurance Center.

Don’s affiliation with the paper also put him front and center for local and national politician’s ranging from Ken Curtis and Edmund Muskie, to the Kennedy’s, LBJ and Richard Nixon. Don also photographed many celebrities and was a close friend to Gary Merrill.

Don recognized that his photojournalistic career often took him to places and events throughout the state that may benefit his kids more than their school curriculum and would be known to excuse his kids from school claiming that they would learn more on the road than they may in a typical school day. “As a young child, we became familiar with waking in the middle of the night to “work” alongside the crew of a tugboat as it brought a ship into the harbor. This included hot chocolate and bread pudding in the galley prepared by “Cookie!”, his kids recall.

During the developmental years of his children’s upbringing, Don was known as the neighborhood “Dr. Doolittle” rescuing countless animals including a hawk, crow, seagull, numerous small birds, ducks and a chipmunk.

In 1972 Don left his job as a staff photographer to pursue a career as a freelance photographer in commercial and industrial photography building on relationships he had developed while moonlighting during his newspaper career including with his close friend John McCatherin from New England Telephone. He ran his business, Don Johnson Photography, for nearly four decades.

Also during the ’70s, Don became a dedicated runner following the sudden deaths of a couple of his closest friends. His interest in running began when he became an early member of the USM lifeline program to improve his cardiac health. For close to 20 years he made an annual pilgrimage to San Francisco, Calif. to run the Bay to Breakers road race with his daughter, Jill, and later, his granddaughter, Lauren. “Each year Dad would visit the same week in May, starting by assisting Lauren (granddaughter) with assembling her science project presentation and concluding the week with our ritual Bay to Breakers run. Rising early in the morning, pinning on our numbers, trekking to the local Bart train station, meeting up with thousands of runners in San Francisco’s Embarcadero, and running in place until we were able to take off for our 7.46 mile run, colorful with costumes, music and clothing optional, run across the city. Following the run celebrated by crossing the city once again to enjoy an Irish coffee at the Hyatt in the Embarcadero”. In fact, Jill recalls, “ Dad was the inspiration for my decision to start running. I was hiking in the Sierras with him when I was 25 and he was 50, he was carrying his usual at least 20 pound camera bag on his back and I was huffing and puffing trying to keep up with him.

Close friends of Don for over 30 years recollected “our families shared graduations, weddings and births and so many other happy occasions”. He “had a magical gift of making everyone he met feel special and extremely comfortable. He was interested in what other folks had to say and enjoyed hearing their stories. His laugher, humor and UNIQUE (yes, all caps) personality and innovative dancing style will be missed”.

This sentiment has been shared by so many people who were enamored by Don’s easy nature and perpetual optimism. While others may worry about life’s ongoing challenges, Don always believed that things would work out.

An annual holiday tradition found Don dressing up as Santa Claus for countless nieces, nephews and family friends at his brother Bruce’s house. Somehow, Don always managed to disappear just before Santa’s arrival only to reappear (perhaps with a fresh glass of Scotch) just after Santa had left! Amazingly, we have many pictures of the gathered crowd mysteriously absent Santa!

In his later years, Don looked forward to visits to the lake! The camp he bought in the early ’70s that became a treasured location for family gatherings. He cherished each visit and always looked forward to reconnecting with his grandchildren, great grandchildren, extended family and lake neighbors on the “treehouse” deck overlooking the lake.

Don is survived by his longtime partner, Cheryl Cook; his son, Keith Johnson (Karen), his daughter, Jill (Johnson) Detmer; his former wife and mother of his three children, Jane (Gould) Johnson; six grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; and a proud “Grandpa Grandpa” to his three great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his son, Dana Johnson; his parents Elfra (Eastman) Johnson, Forrest Johnson; and his six siblings.

The family wishes to send a special thank you to the amazing staff at South Paris Maine Veterans Home for their incredible compassionate care.

If you have photos or memories of Don Johnson that you would like to share via this tribute website, the family would be very grateful.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, those who wish to express sympathy make a donation to:

PSL Strive

28 Foden Rd.

South Portland, ME 04106

(pslstrive.org) or to:

their favorite charity

in Don’s name