The Johnson Journals — the Book

In celebration, Byrne will be presenting a public program and book signing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30 at the Ranier Community Building. The evening, which will include a presentation of 1940s film footage of the Bror Dahlberg island estate while the Johnsons managed it, is sponsored by Koochiching County Museums. The community is invited.

The title of the book comes from a variation on “Sturgeon’s Law” by Theodore Sturgeon which says that “90 percent of everything is crap.” Byrne delivers the 10 percent of his dad’s journals that embodies the best entries from 1936-1957 — including the Camp Kooch-i-ching and Dahlberg estate years as well as the startup of Norway Island Camp and the Mando houseboat years.

Another collection, “The Wit and Wisdom of Don A. Johnson,” will also be available at the book signing. This compilation organized by theme, features 1,300 of the wittiest and pithiest phrases from Don’s 1940-1987 journals. Byrne states in the introduction that he hopes the selections will capture his dad’s “humor, gift of words and understanding about life.”

People who have followed the newspaper installments have read about the Rainy Lake lives of the Johnson family as well as a history of the area. Don was boatman, caretaker, resort owner and captain of the paper mill’s houseboat where executive guests were entertained on local waters. Readers have been exposed to Don’s soliloquies, and experienced by proxy — his schemes, his joys and his heartaches — beginning on the frontier of rugged Rainy Lake.

The newspaper publishing of The Johnson Journals, which began following the June 2008 front-page story, “My Father’s Words,” has been a memorial endeavor for brothers Byrne and Buck Johnson of Borderland.

Byrne told The Journal that even though he has provided the installments, he still reads each weekly page when it is published, as if the words were new to his eyes. His father’s early journal writing began when he received a blank journal from a banker friend. After a sporadic start, the diaries became part and parcel of an ongoing inner dialogue in which Don was engaged for decades.

What readers wouldn’t know when they read the newspaper copy of Don’s entries, is that his handwritten entries penned in permanent ink, essentially show no after-the-fact editing, and seldom is a word scratched-out or even inserted along the margins. In the enormous scope of his writing, this is remarkable.

So it was not because of an error that, intriguingly, one page was torn out. “I would love to know, maybe, what he had written that he felt needed to be destroyed,” said Byrne.

And frequently, a code of six digits can be found written at the top of the page-a-day journals. What would “178 X 39” be? — Don’s weight and waist size. This record was not out of vanity, says his son, but was done knowing that any creeping weight gains could render him unable to keep up with the back-breaking work that his life demanded.

There have been generous responses from readers, said Byrne. The most common being an appreciation for the labor of survival in Don Johnson’s maverick years.

Byrne said he has taken a bit of ribbing for what sometimes appears to be the father’s disfavor towards his sometimes rebellious son. One woman emailed Byrne expressing her sadness at what an awful childhood he must have had. “I had to tell her that she wasn’t getting it,” said Byrne with a twinkling eye, noting that he could have excluded any unflattering entries in which he appeared.

A recent visit with Byrne was a chance to ask how his dad, who by then was dealing with ill health, coped with the unexpected 1988 loss of his beloved wife Layna. Don’s entries consistently illustrate the respect and devotion within the couple’s relationship as well as his doubt that he would want to live without her.

Byrne’s 80-year-old eyes rim with tears as he explains that the loss of a loving spouse after a long, good relationship is probably easier to bear than a loss filled with regrets. Still, he recalled the sadness one particular day as his increasingly frail father slipped into a woolen coat, a symbol of Layna’s warmth — and the last gift she had given him.

His parents had become so similar, Byrne said, that when he later read transcripts of an audio interview recorded by Voyageurs National Park, he couldn’t tell which one of them was speaking.

In the composite work, Byrne said he became aware of the melancholy that intermittently colors his dad’s dialogue, inadvertently portraying a struggle with depression. Don developed Parkinson’s Disease in 1980, and would endure its increasing symptoms until his death in 1991.

Newspaper readers should expect some transitions in coming installments of The Johnson Journals, Byrne said. Don and Layna will become empty nesters and health restrictions will begin to play a role in the way they live their lives.

The last line of the first book volume is “To be continued,” and Volume Two, which presents journal entries through 1966, is scheduled for release this summer.

Don Johnson’s literary endeavors have given his family a claim to the past. “It’s amazing to me the number of hours that I put into this, and how meaningful each of them has been,” said Byrne, who along with brother Buck, also writes in journals. Byrne encourages everyone to write down their thoughts and the circumstances of their lives, but more importantly before it’s too late, urge elders to tell their stories — however they might be captured.

“You don’t have to see an outlet for it; you don’t have to see a place where it might be printed for it to be worth keeping,” he said. “So much — too much — has been lost.”

Destined now to silence, how many other rich and fascinating histories must lie buried beneath the grave stones at local cemeteries?

If you go:

If you go:

WHAT: Program and book signing of new Johnson Journals books by Byrne Johnson, editor.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30

WHERE: Ranier Community Building

WHY: To enjoy vintage films and a presentation of two books featuring the journal entries of Don. A. Johnson, Rainy Lake pioneer and extraordinary

man.

About the books:

“Don Johnson’s 10%:” $24.95; “The Wit and Wisdom of Don A. Johnson:” $14.95

The book is also available at Ronning’s, City Drug, Backus Community Center and Koochiching County Museums in International Falls. They are also available, respectively, at www.createspace.com/900002461 or www.createspace.com/3429193.

Inquire on available pricing options for multiple purchases.