Tom Johnson was the beloved son of Jim and Deanna Johnston. A much loved and cherished brother of Jackie, Erin and brother-in-law Steve. A beloved uncle to nieces Amanda and Hannah and nephews Nolan and Jake along with many caring and loving aunts and uncles.
From Report By , June 6, 1962 - April 13, 2005
Born June 6, 1962 in Hanford, CA. Passed into the Hands of Our Lord on April 13, 2005.

Chris was the beloved son of Jim and Deanna Johnston. A much loved and cherished brother of Jackie, Erin and brother-in-law Steve. A beloved uncle to nieces Amanda and Hannah and nephews Nolan and Jake along with many caring and loving aunts and uncles.

He was a very much loved sweetheart and companion to Shari for many years.

Chris suffered with the effects of a severe brain disorder, known as Bipolar Disorder, and was ill for most of his life. Like any of us, Chris was not a perfect person and would not want to be remembered that way.

Many in our society would have labeled him as his illness, as it does many others like him. But Chris was never seen as an illness to us in his family. We know his illness was a dominant part of his life, and it was part of "what" he was -- but it was definitely not "who" he was, and we do not remember him that way at all. Our Chris was a valued and integral part of our family. We remember him fondly, because he was genuinely a kind and gentle person.

We remember him for his high moral standards; for his concern and caring for family members and other people, especially those he considered less fortunate than himself; for his outgoing and friendly personality, for his sometimes strange and offbeat sense of humor; for his passion for his favorite baseball team -- the Oakland Athletics, and football team -- the Oakland Raiders; and for his love of music -- especially the rock variety.

He was a trained Pharmacy Technician -- and carried an active technician's license of which he was very proud.

He was often a volunteer with community help organizations. He volunteered at various times over the years for projects with the NAMI organization.

He was also a long time volunteer with the Sacramento Chapter of the American Red Cross. He received a "Volunteer of the Month" Award plaque from them for his service to firefighting activities during the Oakland Hills wildfires back in the early 90's. He was very proud of this award and kept the small plaque on his apartment wall. In the award write-up, he was recognized for placing himself in harm's way to deliver drinking water to the fire fighters and to the affected area residents. He continued to volunteer for the Red Cross until he severely broke his leg doing his volunteer work. In whatever endeavor he attempted, he always had the betterment of others in maind.

He was our son, brother, uncle, nephew and loving companion. We remember him for the man he was. He was simply a wonderful person and someone of whom our family is very proud.

-Jim Johnston, Family & Friends

Tom Johnson