Mel Johnson

In the presence of family, Mel Johnson made his final voyage to be home with the Lord on July 30, 2026.  Mel lived a full 90 years of bold adventure, hard work, optimism, humility, faith in a good God, and loving people.  For Mel, a stranger was a friend he just hadn’t met yet.

Melvin Cecil Johnson was born on October 21, 1935 to Daniel and Bertha (nee Lindgren) Johnson at Provost, AB.  He was the youngest of five siblings (Marjorie, Ralph, Harvey, Ira) and they moved to Newbrook, AB on account of the drought when he was just two.  It was there in Newbrook, when returning from Bible School, that he met and wooed the daughter (Madeline White) of the local minister. They married and for the next sixty years she was his partner in many endeavors and ministries, including starting a church in the new oil town of Swan Hills, AB, and then pastoring in Churchbridge, SK, and finally at Paradise Valley, AB, all with the Church of God (Anderson).  Mel and Madeline had four children:  Barry (1961), Auralee (1963-1967), Kelly (1967), David (1969). They started a new chapter with World Vision in Calgary for over 20 years and eventually retired to Sunnyside Camp at Sylvan Lake.

A year and a half after the passing of Madeline in 2020, Mel found a new love and married Miriam Carruthers and enjoyed several years together before she passed in 2025.  Mel continued to support, and encouraged others to contribute to, various ministries including UCM Calgary, ESL Cooperative, Sunnyside Camp and many more. We would love it if you would honour Mel with a contribution to the charity of your choice.

Mel is the last of his family’s generation (except for his sister-in-law, Elsie Johnson), but he valued the extended family and visits from relatives near and far. We are thankful for the Carruthers, his friends and staff at Aspen Ridge as well as the Red Deer Hospital where he spent his final month. His surviving direct descendants include Barry (Jessie Moon) Johnson with Connor, Keenan, Nicole; Kelly (Barb Bittle) with Erica (Abel John), Aimee (Steven Lipp) with Kinley and Oliver, Logan (Olivia Koch) with Esmond, Courtney; David (Natalie Murphy) with Nathanael and Owen.

We welcome you to join us on Saturday, August 22nd at 1:30pm, Living Stones Church, Red Deer, AB for a memorial and time of refreshments.