Mr. Speaker, on February 28, 2001, at Loch Katrine United Church in Guysborough county, a community turned out to mourn a native son, James Granville Johnson. His wife Carole and children Dana, Diane and Debbie were joined by family and friends to mourn and pay tribute to this remarkable man and his life well lived.
The former warden of St. Mary's district had a heart as big as Guysborough and an intellect as deep as the waters off Sable. Jim found great joy in befriending and helping others. He loved his family, the land and its politics and of course the sea and its creatures such as wayward whales. His big callused hands were always busy, reaching out, fixing, holding, creating for the good of all. Unselfish random acts of kindness were his trademark.
He was a robust man of action who loved and lived life to the fullest. Nautical adventurer, crewman on the Bounty , photographer, storyteller, artisan and scuba diver are but some of the hats he wore on his imposing brow.
The words of Rudyard Kipling's If describe him well:
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
It was my good fortune to know Jim. He will be missed by all who knew him and even by those who did not, because for Jim there were never strangers, just friends he had never met.