Frank Johnston
The Reverend Frank N. Johnston passed away on December 31, 2020 at the age of 91. Frank was born in Brooklyn, NY, on May 28, 1929, the youngest of three children, to Frank F and Edith (Ackeson) Johnston. He attended Trinity School in New York City, where he was named an all NYC football player. He attended St Lawrence University in Canton, NY, where he played on the school’s only undefeated football team. While at St Lawrence, Frank married the former Barbara Grant, of the Bronx NY, and the two lived in upstate New York while he completed his undergraduate studies and then moved on to the Theological School of St. Lawrence University.
Upon completion of Theological School, Frank served as the rector of a small parish in rural Parishville, NY. He was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1956 at Trinity Church Newton Center, MA, where he served as a curate (assistant minister). He later moved on to churches in Foxboro, MA, Manhasset, NY, and St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
Frank was a dynamic, charismatic clergyman whose churches grew in numbers and in community impact. While at St. Mark’s Church in Foxboro, a growing congregation and church mission led to expansion. In 1962, a new building was completed and St Mark’s Church was consecrated at its present site.
Frank believed that a core role of the church was to address human need and to confront social injustice. His home in Foxboro was a place of refuge where people were always welcome for a meal or a place to stay, sometimes for a night or sometimes longer. He partnered with St John & St James Church in Roxbury, to create opportunities for young people in each community to spend time in each other’s homes and churches. Perhaps the most significant event of his ministry and best expression of his Christian faith was when he led a small group from St Mark’s to Alabama to participate in Martin Luther King’s Jr’s march from Selma to Montgomery in support of voting rights.
When he moved to Christ Church, Manhasset, NY, he collaborated with Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he later became a trustee, to house a drug rehabilitation program at his church. He founded and initially staffed a youth oriented hotline program, and developed a safe house for abused women and children. He partnered with St George’s Church in Brooklyn to provide opportunities for parishioners to worship together. He brought parishioners to a rural mission church in Haiti to elicit their support for a clean water project and a health clinic for the community. He was an outspoken advocate for the ordination of women.
He also spent 18 summers as Chaplain and Junior Unit Head at Camp O-At-Ka, an Episcopal-affiliated boys camp in East Sebago, Maine, where he provided support and guidance to countless campers and staff members over the years.
Frank “retired” to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands in 1986, but was soon asked to serve as Interim Dean of the Cathedral Church of All Saints. He served in that role of two years, helping in the church’s mission. He later helped establish Nazareth by the Sea mission church on the East End of St. Thomas.
He is survived by his children: Peter and wife Estela of Onset, MA; Julie and husband Ed Golkowski of Newfields, NH, Scott and wife Annette of Onset, MA; Tom and wife Jean of Buzzards Bay, MA; and Jill and husband Ren Robb of Vero Beach, Florida as well as 15
grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, and 4 nieces and nephews.
In the early 2000s, he moved back from St Thomas to live next door to son, Scott, Annette and family in Onset, and close to Tom and Peter, as well as the family summer home in Pocasset, where he was a fixture at family events.
The family would like to express their most sincere gratitude to all the staff at All American Assisted Living, and at Continuum Care Hospice for care they provided late in his life.
In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to give to their local church or charity of their choice.