Harold B. Johnson II

Harold B. Johnson II, is likely quite disappointed that his children chose not to have a Viking funeral by setting him adrift in his 1940 Chris-Craft in the St. Lawrence River.

Nor did we select a ‘pine box’ for his burial, as the preferred wood these days is indeed poplar, his family discovered this week.

Harold died on Monday after a nearly eight year battle with heart failure that followed a heart attack that struck him two days before Christmas in 2016.

In his final year, he overcame numerous maladies, the last of which he looked forward to overcoming to enjoy the fall back on the river.

On the third of July, he slipped on a rain soaked deck at his beloved Lake of the Isles cabin. It occurred after profusely warning Susan, his wife of 41 years, not to fall. Three days later he decided it was time to get it checked out. An x-ray at River Hospital showed a broken leg. He’d never before broken a bone, but he was keenly aware that his heart was in need of mending to get any more quality time in life.

While his heart failed, it was far from broken. He had a loving marriage to Susan Ann Meylor Johnson, three adult children and three — and soon to be four — grandchildren. He adored his wife, children, grandchildren, his various dogs, his best friend Trent Dickey and his parents, John B. and Catherine Common Johnson, who pre-deceased him in 2001 and 2004.

Harold B. Johnson II was born at The House of the Good Samaritan in Watertown on February 9, 1954. His mother was determined that he be born before she struck 40, which she did on February 12 of that year. He was the youngest of four children, and is survived by his siblings John B. Johnson Jr., Ann Johnson, and Deborah Johnson Newcomb.

Harold and his siblings were raised on Watertown’s Flower Avenue West in an ivy-covered stucco house in the winter and at Underbluff in Henderson Harbor during the summer months.

Harold graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H. in 1973 after struggling through his foreign language requirement — French. There he met a great many lifelong friends, established his independence and developed a strong rower’s grip, which he possessed until his final day. A skinny guy, and not a bit over five-foot nine, he was a surprisingly good arm-wrestler and had the presence of a man a foot taller.

After graduation from Exeter, Harold acquired his first wooden boat: the 1940 Chris-Craft utility which, to his chagrin, is not ablaze today. It is a 15-foot mahogany boat from which his crew coach bellowed out to the eight-man crew on the brackish Squamscott River between Exeter and Newfields. The boat was to be decommissioned and likely burned, so Harold offered $100 and took it home to Henderson Harbor. Its first night in Harbor Marina, it sunk to the muddy bottom of Reeds Canal.

The fiasco kindled Harold’s lifelong love of wooden boats, leading to his four decades of service to the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton. As one of the museum’s longest standing board members, he served as chairman numerous times. While he loved the boats and promoting the museum, he also loved and admired those with whom he served: a great number of people from diverse backgrounds brought together by their desire to preserve the heritage of boating on the St. Lawrence River. In the 1970s, he said, wooden boats were cast aside and either let to rot in fields or burned after being stripped of their hardware. Harold saved three of them: his P.E.A. 40, the Miss Chittenango, and a 1968 Lyman Sportsman, Mallard. Harold spent his final months orchestrating repairs to his boats to prepare them for this season, a beloved ritual, though his leg injury kept him from getting out on the water this year.

Harold graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1977, after four years that can be easily summarized by the movie ‘Animal House,’ which he watched at least once a year while reminiscing about driving his father’s 1963 Corvette to Kentucky to retrieve cases of grain liquor for Delta Kappa Epsilon parties back in Nashville.

Throughout his life, Harold came to know a great many people who helped his family in various ways, and all of those remembered him as a kind man.

In the days following his passing, many messages were sent from his friends, family, colleagues and members of boards on which he served. The resounding appreciation and respect for Harold in these messages spoke to his wisdom and dedication to good causes, measurable in decades. Harold served on the boards of the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Edward John Noble Foundation, the St. Catherine’s Island Foundation, the Jefferson Community College Foundation, the SUNY Potsdam College Council, Neighbors of Watertown, Johnson Newspaper Corporation, The 1000 Island State Park Commission, Northern New York Community Foundation, and Rotary, among others.

Harold joined the Neighbors of Watertown Board in 1988, serving humbly and devotedly for the betterment and preservation of downtown Watertown. Whenever at the Crystal Restaurant or driving through downtown with his children, he pointed out various projects and proudly said “that wouldn’t have happened without Neighbors of Watertown.”

Harold, by official title, was a newspaper executive. He worked with his father and brother in the family business. But he started out in television. His grandfather and father established radio and television stations in Northern New York, embracing emerging new technology. After college, Harold worked at the WWNY Channel 7 television station. He was on a course to lead that enterprise when the Federal Communications Commission dashed his hopes, demanding that the family sell either the newspaper or the television station. The television station was sold and Harold moved over to the newspaper. There, along with his elder brother John, they invested the proceeds of the television sale in a new printing press and broadened the reach of printed newspapers west to Batavia, south to Hudson, and north to Malone, serving the North Country and beyond. Harold and John became co-publishers of the Times in 2001 after the death of their father. Harold retired in 2022.

In his final days at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, he proudly answered his doctor’s question about his profession, “I was a newspaper publisher,” he said. “My son does that now.”

Harold was a collector of many things. Anything that intrigued him. Boats, cars, shotguns, and z-gauge model trains piqued his interest most, but he also subscribed to magazines about coin collecting, conservation, and Southern hospitality. In his library are books about the places he traveled, from Malaysia to Argentina to Moscow and St. Petersburg and many places in between that he visited at various stages of his life. He took trips with each of his children and wife Susan to many places, never calling anything a vacation, as traveling meant learning about new cultures and places.

As a member of the Hickory Point Club on Carleton Island he spent many weekends duck hunting with his friends and son during the late fall months, enjoying the adventure of getting to and from the island in December weather in his 1968 Boston Whaler.

Harold was a man of diverse interests and immense desire to pursue happiness in all things. While he is gone, he is and will always be remembered by those who knew him in the context of their individual relationship. At ease in any company, Harold was always an impeccably dressed gentleman.

Left to cherish Harold’s life and legacy, are his wife Susan A. Meylor Johnson of Flower Avenue West, Watertown; his son, Alec E. Johnson (Gabrielle) of Watertown with grandchildren Claire and Tadhg; daughter, Anna A. Napoli (William) of Wayland, Mass. with granddaughter Henley; and daughter Leslie M. Carman (Alexander) of Stowe, Vt; brother, John B. Johnson Jr. (Susan) of Watertown; sister, Ann Johnson of Sackets Harbor and Clayton; sister, Deborah Johnson Newcomb (Richard) of Brownville and Henderson Harbor; friend and brother-in-law, Ted Meylor (Maureen) of Westfield, N.J. and Henderson Harbor; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and beloved friends.

To honor Harold Johnson please consider making a donation to the Northern New York Community Foundation, or the charity of your choosing.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 at The First Presbyterian Church in Watertown. Family and friends are welcome to a reception in Fellowship Hall immediately following the service. The burial will be at the family’s convenience.

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