‘It shows resilience’
Peter Cromwell, left, and BRCS teacher Matthew Marshall presented 99-year-old Hazel Johnson with an honorary high school diploma during the Bridgetown Regional Community School’s commencement ceremonies last week.
“Hazel is a dedicated Christian and has served her community of Inglewood in many capacities,” said Marshall. “She was a Sunday school teacher for 35 years and served as treasurer for the Inglewood Baptist Church, a Nova Scotia Provincial Heritage Site, for over 40 years, during which time the ‘books were always balanced.’ She remains a deacon of the church to this day.”
Bucket List
Marshall said Johnson has
achieved many goals in her life, and crossed off several things on her bucket list, but when asked a few years ago if she had any regrets, her answer was, “I wish I was able to graduate high school.”
Although it’s unthinkable today, the impediments to education for a young black woman in the 1930s were many. The price of a few books changed the entire course of Johnson’s life.
“Unfortunately, her father could not afford new books,” said Marshall. “He told her she would have to leave school. So, Grade 10 would be the end of her formal learning.
She was devastated.”
Marshall said Johnson never stopped learning. She married the love of her life, Samuel Johnson, a soldier, raised three sons who also became soldiers. The family moved to Germany in 1959, something Marshall described as quite a shock after living in rural Nova Scotia and growing your own vegetables.
“She learned to speak German and learned some of the languages of the other countries she travelled to just so she could be courteous,” Marshall said.
They came back to Canada in 1962 and eventually retired to
Inglewood.
Resilience
“Really, what it said to me when they brought it to me (Hazel’s story) was it shows resilience, and that’s the biggest thing that I’m noting in schools - that we need to build resilience,” said BRCS principal Bill Reid. “Her life, and wanting to come back, it shows the importance of education, but also her personal resilience to run into a barrier but still continue on with such a successful life. That’s why I thought it would be such an iconic event for our kids to see what resilience is in life. That’s
what we all need to build – that confidence, that lifelong learning.”
Johnson is sharp and still learning, the glint of the young woman still in her eyes as she congratulated her fellow graduates and reiterated the story of the textbooks.
Marshall and Cromwell were on the stage with her for the presentation.
“She has lived a full life, she is loved by all who meet her,” said Marshall. “So you see, she did not let her life circumstances stop her education, she worked around it. On behalf of our graduates and staff here at BRCS we would like to now present Hazel Johnson with an honorary graduation certificate acknowledging a lifelong pursuit of education.”