Carolyn M. Johnson

Carolyn’s family, friends and community mourn her death at Saint John Regional Hospital in New Brunswick on December 11, 2023. Carolyn was 53 years old and leaves behind the love of her life, her husband Larry Johnson, her mother-in-law Shirley Johnson, her loving parents Glenn and Mary Laverty, her siblings Ed Laverty (Roz), Jennifer Irving (Neil), Sandra Hawkins (Jerry), and her cherished nieces and nephews, Ashley Leitch (Chris), Chad Farrell, Jake Farrell, Dale Farrell (Ang), Kelly Farrell-Smyth (Erik), Charles, Jill (Nathan), Colin, Olyndra, and Neelah Irving, and Ella and Willow Hawkins and grand-nephews Axel, Levi and Wyatt Farrell and Max and Theo Irving and her fur-babies, Parker and Smidge Johnson. She is predeceased by her beloved nephew Darrell Laverty and her grandparents Allan and Gladys Laverty and Ernest and Lilian Peters.

Carolyn grew up on a potato farm in Honeywood Ontario and loved her summers at the cottage on Kahshe Lake. She was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 4 and her Grandma Laverty described her just four months later as a “great wee girl” who “knows exactly what she can eat and very rarely complains”. She stoically lived her life refusing to let the disease define her or stop her. She was determined to do anything her siblings and cousins could do–even knocking out her two front teeth in a bicycling accident at the age of 10 to prove it.

Carolyn worked at The Nottawasaga Inn Resort and Conference Centre for almost 20 years. She had a kidney-pancreas transplant in 2012 which meant she was finally able to live her life without diabetes. Unfortunately a post-transplant complication resulted in an acquired brain injury and the loss of her short-term memory. Carolyn’s determination (and the generosity of the Biffis family) allowed her to return to work at The Nott in 2013. In 2022, Carolyn and Larry decided it was time to embrace living life to the fullest and retired early. They made the big move to New Brunswick with Larry’s mother Shirley and hoped to spend the next chapter of their lives together enjoying the slower, rural life in a setting much like Carolyn grew up in.

Carolyn was a loyal friend and kept in close contact with her many aunts, uncles and cousins, and the friends she made in high school, college and everywhere she lived and worked. Carolyn was a true survivor and modelled for all who knew her how to live life with strength and courage, perseverance and hope. She will be missed by many.

Donations in memory of Carolyn can be made to Diabetes Canada.