The Kingston College family will always remember Wally Johnson as a model of the Fortis spirit and history will record his significant contribution to Jamaica’s educational development. Mr. Johnson is unique in that his whole life apart from early boyhood was spent at K.C., from 1948 as Student, then Teacher, Vice Principal, Principal and finally up to 2011 a Director of the Kingston College Development Trust Fund (KCDTF). This short comment will seek, however, to highlight his exemplary work as a Kingston College Vice Principal and as a Director of the KCDTF, the two areas that the writer can personally attest to.
Wally worked as vice Principal from 1978. With the school having two campuses he was in a way the Principal of the North Street campus. His caring for the boys, his pleasant manner and excellent interpersonal skills made his relationship with staff and boys very cordial and effective. The school community could see in him no seeking after self aggrandizement but rather the good of the boys. For this he was loved and respected and his memory will inspire the KC family for a long time.
Brother Ivan was a Vice Principal when the idea of a Development Trust Fund was born in 1986 and came to fruition in 1987. He was Acting Principal in 1997 when the Trust was revived and worked as a faithful Director, even after retirement in 2005, up to the year of his death. He was a member of the Nominations Committee. It was during his principalship that the idea of a school development cess came about and this is at present the single largest contributor to the Capital Fund of the Trust.
On behalf of the Trust, I join with the rest of the K.C. family in expressing condolences to Wally’s immediate family. We can all get strength in the fact that even a week before his passing this great thinker in reflecting on his life told me “I have no regrets”( in the course he travelled and the choices he made). These will remain a source of inspiration to his friends and admirers in this and future generations.
Woodburn D. Miller
Principal1980-1986
Chairman KCDTF