Educator, administrator.
Born at Winnipeg on 2 October 1935, son of Margaret Eva Forsley (1915-1995) and Haraldur “Harry” Allan Johnson (1905-1939), his early years were spent on the family farm at Big Point on the west shore of Lake Manitoba. He attended Big Point School then, after the death of his father, his family moved to Langruth where they lived until 1945 when they returned to Big Point after his mother’s remarriage to Hallgrimur “Hall” Hanneson (1887-1962). He attended Langruth High School then Brandon College. He joined the Canadian Officers Training Corps and, after college graduation with majors in English literature and sociology and a minor in Religious Studies, he was posted to the Prairie Command Provost Company in Winnipeg.
In 1956, he became the Principal of Stonewall Collegiate where he taught science. He then took additional training and, in 1958, received a BPed degree. He then moved to Ethiopia and taught high science science for three years, returning to Canada in 1961. He taught English, Biology, and Chemistry at Kelvin High School (1961-1965) then he became the Science Department Head at Gordon Bell High School (1965-1969). He received BEd (1963) and BSc (1967) degrees then, in 1967, received a Shell Merit Fellowship to study at Stanford University. He co-founded with Allan and Brian Hyslop the Manitoba Schools Science Symposium.
After a sabbatical leave and research fellowship to study Educational Administration at the University of Houston (1969-1971), he received a DEd degree (1971) and returned to the Winnipeg School Division as Vice-Principal of Hugh John Macdonald School. In 1973, he was recruited to assist in developing a Professional Development Branch for the Manitoba Department of Education, responsible for the design and implementation of programs for school boards, superintendents, and staffs of 48 school divisions around Manitoba. After a brief secondment to work on government-wide professional and personal development programs, in 1978 he joined the University of Winnipeg to create a continuing education program there. He was its first Director of Continuing Education and Commuity Service. He joined the Manitoba Institute of Management in 1985 to work on projects relating to management and organization development in business, industry, government, and non-profit sectors. He developed a computer services division there and, when it was privatized in 1995, he incorporated a new company called Infobahn Access Services to establish one of the first internet service providers in Winnipeg.
On 20 July 1957, he married Maureen Winona Sills (1936-2018, daughter of Florence and Jack Sills) at the Kenton United Church and they had three daughters before divorcing in 1984. He retired in 1997 and moved to the Ottawa-Gatineau region with his partner, Joanne DiCosimo and lived at Aylmer, Quebec. There, he was an active volunteer canvasser for the Kidney Foundation. He enjoyed gardening, needlepoint, photography, playing music, and travel.
He died at Wakefield, Quebec on 23 August 2025.
Birth registration [Margaret Eva Forsley], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“News of Langruth and district,” Portage la Prairie Leader, 18 July 1957, page 2.
Obituary [Maureen Winona Johnson], Winnipeg Free Press, 17 February 2018.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 27 September 2025.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 September 2025
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