Paul P. Johnson Jr.

MONMOUTH – Paul P. Johnson, Jr., 87, of Monmouth, passed away peacefully at the Maine Veteran’s Home in Augusta on Monday, March 20, 2023.

Paul was born on Dec. 29, 1935, in Boston, Mass., the first of seven children to Paul P. Johnson and Elinor (Jackson) Johnson of Stoughton, Mass. He grew up loving the outdoors and nature in all its forms. As a boy, he had a pet crow and until he retired, he raised and trained racing pigeons.

At 17 years old, he attended Forestry School at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After two years at UMass, he was hired to spend a month living on top of Slate Point fire station in Idaho’s Nez Pierce National Forest. The experience would affect his entire life.

He joined the Air Force in October of 1955, and took leave in February of 1957 to marry his love, Barbara Lou Tatham. They would have three sons, Robert, Richard, and Alan. After his discharge from the service, he finished his Forestry degree at UMass and was hired by the United States Forest Service. Throughout his career he was stationed in Colorado, West Virginia, and Washington D.C., finishing up with a several-year stint as the Assistant Deputy to the Deputy Chief of State and Private Forestry in DC before retiring in 1986.

Shortly after his retirement, Paul and Barbara moved to Maine and, with the help of their youngest son, Alan, built a passive solar home in Monmouth. Paul then settled into 20 years of volunteer service with the Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC), the Stanton Bird Club, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), the Kennebec Land Trust, and many others. During these years Paul built a reputation throughout Maine as an ardent conservationist and skilled leader in all aspects of his outdoor work in the woods and on the trails of the state he loved.

In 2005, his beloved Barbara died after a brief illness. He attended a bereavement group in the fall of that year and there he met the woman who would become his second wife. In 2006, Paul married Judy Lamoureux in a ceremony held by the lovely brook behind the house on his land. They spent the next 10 years traveling all over this beautiful country in their RV. They both fell in love with Alaska. They managed to slip in a special trip to Italy and later a river cruise on the Danube for Paul’s 80th birthday, even after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease in 2013. They would have celebrated 17 years of marriage this summer.

Paul is survived by his wife, Judith Johnson; sons Robert Johnson (wife Kate) of Cumberland, R.I., Richard Johnson of Jenkintown, Pa., Alan Johnson (wife Jennifer) of Elm City, N.C.; grandchildren Erin Afarian of North Carolina, Ryan Johnson of Norfolk, Mass., Samuel Johnson of North Carolina, Katherine Johnson of North Carolina, Elizabeth Johnson of North Carolina, Isabelle Johnson of North Carolina; siblings Virginia Miller of Santa Fe, N.M., Pricilla Noyes of Pittsburgh, Pa., Linda Weaver of Fort Collins, Colo., and David Johnson of Amherst, Mass.; four stepchildren, all of Maine; four great-grandchildren and several step-great-grandchildren.

Messages of Condolence may be left at http://www.finleyfuneralhome.com.

A Celebration of Life ceremony will be announced later this spring. Arrangements by Bragdon-Finley Funeral Home, 707 Main St., Monmouth.

If desired, donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the

Maine Parkinson’s Society,

146 Parkway South, Suite 210,

Brewer, ME 04412


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