In Memory

Charlene Hay (Johnson) - Class Of 1944

Charlene Hay (Johnson)

My wife Charlene Hay Johnson passed away on January 5, 2007.  Charlene and I were married at Waikiki Beach, Hawaii on June 5, 1953.  She was a beautiful young lady with a wonderful personality and we were married for 53 1/2 years.  She bore me two beautiful and very smart daughters and a dynamic son.  We moved back to California in 1954 and lived five years in Covina, 33 years in Corona del Mar, and 16 years in San Clemente.

During the 1970s and 80s, I remember at least six times attending SPHSAA reunions in the Pasadena area.

In 1988, Charlene and I sailed away across the Pacific in our 40 ft sailboat, a Valiant 40.  We sailed from Newport Beach to the Marquesas Islands, Tuomotus, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Phuket, Thailand.  After four years in the tropics (1988-92) we were worn out, sold our boat in Singapore and came home to Corona del Mar.  An incredible life experience of four years.  I will never forget Charlene standing at the wheel steering our boat through stormy seas with lightning flashes on a dark horizon.

My love for her will never die.

Jack Johnson, Charlene's husband