Charlie Johnston

April 3rd, 1943 - April 24th, 2021

Memorial

Mementos

The legendary Charles Johnston, passed away in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 24, 2021, after a valiant battle with cancer. He was 78-years old. Anyone that met this amazing and larger than life man, quickly learned of his tremendous sense of humor and passion for life. Charlie lived life to the fullest. From running marathons or being attacked by rattle snakes to serving his country in Viet Nam and hunting grizzly bears in Alaska, racing cars and riding horses, he was practically a living version of Forest Gump himself. And it was quickly apparent to anyone that left him a voicemail where his passions were. From being on the receiving end of one of his practical jokes, which he was just as happy to be the recipient of, or the daily joke he always had ready and often one he'd stolen from you (like the pictures he'd happily take with your fish) his over the top laugh and sense of adventure will always be a reminder to all of us to live, love and appreciate all that life has to offer. On the professional side, for nearly 20 years, (May 1981 - January 2001) Charles Johnston served as Director/Chief of the Lakewood Police Department. Chief Johnston was a Vietnam veteran whose honors included four Bronze Stars for heroism, the Purple Heart, and the Air Medal for 50 helicopter missions as well as providing personnel security for the Bob Hope tour. He began his career in Lakewood in 1970, after briefly serving in Salinas, CA. In just 11 years he rose through the ranks to become Director of the department. In his 30-year career with the Lakewood Police Department, Chief Johnston headed every division and even served a two-year term as acting city manager. He was a dedicated advocate of Special Olympics Colorado, and even elected to the Special Olympics of Colorado - Hall of Fame for helping to raise $200,000 for the program. Among his biggest accomplishments with LPD, then Director Johnston changed the agency's name from the Lakewood Department of Public Safety to the Lakewood Police Department. Bringing LPD into a new era, he took the title of chief rather than director, and replaced the blue blazers agents wore at the time with the standard police uniform we now know. He created a legacy of recognizing the agent's education and professionalism by working with City Council to adopt a philosophy that police agent pay and benefits would always remain at least one percent above any other police department in Colorado. He also established the department's Speakers Bureau, Neighborhood Watch and Citizen's Police Academy programs. Chief Johnston will be remembered as a strong leader with an incredible sense of humor who transformed the Lakewood Police Department into who they are today. We invite you to share any stories you might have, or pictures of the good times, of which there were many.

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May 31st, 2021

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Tributes

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Lori Miller

Larry Hesser offered this memory of Chief Johnston - I first met Charlie Johnston during his hiring process with the Lakewood Department of Public Safety. At first, we worked together a lot. One time he was dispatched to a crash at Wadsworth and Colfax and upon arrival Charlie called for a "dust off," instead of an ambulance. He often shared stories with me about his tour of duty in Vietnam. He always told the stories as humorous. I didn't see much humor in such life-threatening situations. I guess if you survive it all you can make jokes about it. I don't know, I never served in combat. Years after I left the Lakewood Department of Public Safety in 1971, I became the Chief of Police in Hendersonville, North Carolina. I had lost contact with Charlie Johnston over the years, only to run into him when we both attended a two-week FBI training program at Quantico, Virginia. On Friday of the first week of the training, Charlie asked me to join him over the weekend for a visit to the Vietnam Memorial. As a Vietnam vet, Charlie had always wanted to visit the memorial, but had never had a chance. As we entered the sacred place, we came across a bronze statue featuring three soldiers - Charlie was taken with the statue looking intently at the young faces and the way they appeared in their uniforms. His eyes filled with tears and he kept repeating, "We looked just like that." Of course, I agreed, but continued to just listen. As we moved forward, we came to a plexiglass box where all the names are listed of the soldiers who died in Vietnam, along with their respective panel location on the wall. Charlie became very emotional as he flipped through many pages of a book as large as the Atlanta phone book. Charlie read through the names and could not articulate what he was feeling. He became very emotional. The weather had turned damp and was drizzling rain. At about that point a man approached Charlie wearing a London Fog-type raincoat with shoulder patches sewn onto the shoulder areas of the coat. The shoulder patch on his right sleeve indicated that he had been a brother in combat. He watched Charlie as he followed the list of names weeping quietly. He put his arm around Charlie and said, "You can't remember his name, can you?" "It's okay." And then, the fellow combat vet proceeded to ask Charlie numerous questions, about the place, the battle locations, his company, the dates, and began going through the list of names with Charlie. He came to a name that matched the specifics Charlie could remember and Charlie said, "that's him." As Charlie was weeping, he said over and over, "this kid died in my arms and I couldn't remember his name." It was him, and Charlie continued to weep as he recalled the details of that horrid day in a foreign county so far from California. Charlie took the pencil and paper provided to stencil the young man's name taking the rubbing back with him... so he would never forget! That was the day that I witnessed the humanity of Charlie Johnston and the heart of the man aside for his pranks and jaded humor, that I believe were coping mechanisms Charlie used to keep us all at arm's length, allowing very few people to see the depth of his soul. The second week of training was very much like the first week. I truly enjoyed being in his presence. I remember Charlie Johnston with great respect and admiration for the man he was. I love Charlie Johnston.

Published October 15th, 2021

mike Johnston

Published June 3rd, 2021

mike Johnston

Published June 3rd, 2021

Tana Roberts

Charlie Johnston. Where do I begin? How about the 5th grade? The first time I ever knew Charlie. We were about 10 years old and shared the entire 5th grade with a wonderful, motherly teacher. Mrs. Anthony. We had a wonderful school picture taken that year. There's Charlie standing tall in the back row with his head all cocked over to the side and with a crazy expression on his face. I'm at the other end of that back row looking much like a chubby little girl. Charlie and I moved up to the sixth grade and were again in the same class with Mrs. Osorio. Charlie continued his quest to be the "class clown" to the despair of our teacher. She decided to "clip the clown's wings" and rearranged the room in rows of three desks together. She sat us in the first row with me in the middle, Charlie on my left, and another boy, Peter, on my right. The teacher handed me a brand new twelve inch ruler and told me to hit Charlie or Peter on the head if they acted up. I'm surprised I learned anything that year because most of our class time was hitting Charlie and Peter. Those boys learned a good lesson. Never sit by a red haired girl with a ruler. Charlie told me he was still trying to be the crazy guy in the 7th grade with a very strict teacher, Mr. Reitnour, but promptly got transferred to another class where the teacher, Mr. Webster, had a man-to-man talk with Charlie which really turned him around. We shared our last year of grade school in the same class but I could see a great change in Charlie. He had calmed down and was in the group of guys that were the "cool guys on campus". Onward and upward we headed to high school. I don't remember having Charlie in many of my classes but I do recall him in our Senior year sharing the class that discussed sex education (I think they were a little late giving us that information) and when Charlie heard the word "seman", he gave that all-American horse laugh he was known for because one of his best buddies since grade school was Frank Seman. He later told me that in that same class he went out on a little window balcony and one of the other students locked the window. The teacher finally unlocked the window and he sheepishly climbed back into the room. Charlie loved his sports and excelled playing football and being chosen the team captain who had the honor of escorting the "football queen". Our paths didn't cross for many years until we saw each other again at our 25th class reunion. I saw Charlie in line across the room and happily went over to talk to him. He seemed quite aloof like he didn't remember me and when I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek he seemed to be more interested in his comb-over hairdo I had messed up. He immediately took a comb out of his suit pocket and tried to repair the damage. Maybe he was having bad memories of being hit in the head by the "6th grade ruler". Years brought us in opposite directions and we didn't reconnect until our 50th class reunion. He camped in his motorhome at a local park at Pinto Lake. He had remarried and I was able to meet his wife Joan. I immediately connected with her as we shared a private picnic the day before our 50th celebration. Charlie and Joan were right there at the Corralitos Community Center helping with decorations and pre-reunion duties. They came early the day of the event and helped set up and served the chili dog lunch. It was as if we had all been together throughout the years. Charlie even proved to be the same crazy guy I remembered from grade school as he tied tin cans under our truck so we'd think our faithful ride was broken. After that time, Charlie and Joan, regularly kept in touch with me. He so wanted to all get together for an informal 55th reunion and talked me into rounding up some classmates. Unfortunately he was having some health issues and was unable to attend. I can remember him calling me and trying to pretend he was someone else while he asked me if I still put rolled up sox in my bra. I told him I never did that and it was his imagination. He always had a joke to tell and sometimes I fell for his stories as the truth. Charlie even acted as "cupid' with my help to get a couple from our high school days together after they lost their spouses to divorce and death. He was quite the matchmaker. I was devastated to find out that his health issues had escalated and the last months of his life was spent dealing with life-saving issues and hoping they could eradicate his cancer with chemotherapy and radiation. We were able to call and renew our memories and share jokes. Charlie was amazing as he called many classmates and lifted them up in their time of sickness when he was probably the one who needed the uplifting. Charlie and Joan were even planning a mini reunion of close friends at their ranch at the end of May. We were all going to be there. Charlie just couldn't hang on to entertain the crew. He left us on the 24th of April. My world and the world of so many was very dark that day and the many days after. It will never have the sunshine Charlie poured out to all his buddies.

Published June 13th, 2021