Northern Ireland

Brona Johnston: Fun-loving and popular member of community in Co Tyrone

Brona Johnston was an active member of her community in Cookstown, Co Tyrone
Brona Johnston was an active member of her community in Cookstown, Co Tyrone Brona Johnston was an active member of her community in Cookstown, Co Tyrone

BRONA Johnston was a sociable, fun-loving, gregarious character and a well known and popular member of her community in Co Tyrone.

Born and brought up in Dungannon, Brona was the daughter of Walter and Betty Magrath and younger sister of Lynne and Mark.

She was educated at the Royal School (then Dungannon High School for Girls), where she displayed precocious acting skills, and chose to read English and Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick.

After further study at Queen’s in Belfast her love of literature (she was rarely without a book in hand) led her to pursue her early career as a librarian, initially in Kent and subsequently in Hertfordshire, where she had responsibility for developing the schools’ library service.

It was whilst studying at Queen’s that Brona met Terry Johnston, whom she married in 1988.

Following the birth of their first son in Hertfordshire they returned to live in Dungannon, where a second son was born, before settling in Cookstown in 1995 shortly before the birth of twin boys.

Terry works as a doctor at Cookstown Health Centre.

Brona dedicated the next stage of her life to raising her four sons, instilling in all of them a sense of right and wrong, the importance of education and a love of life, literature, history, walking and cold water swimming.

She delighted in and was rightly (and modestly) proud of their many and diverse achievements.

She was an active member of Derryloran Parish Church, where, amongst other things, she devoted her considerable resources to the Christian Aid committee.

Brona was also a history tour guide at Springhill and an active member and former president of Desertcreat Women’s Institute.

In her role with Save the Children her warm, smiling face and ever present sense of humour were a welcome sight to all those who came into contact with her.

As the children grew older, Brona again became a regular attender at Queen’s, indulging her love of history by studying a varied range of historical subjects.

She was also a keen traveller, having visited many parts of Europe as well as America, Australia and the Holy Land.

These trips enabled her to indulge in another of her favourite pastimes – walking. Whilst walking closer to home she was invariably accompanied by her Jack Russell, Lucky.

Brona Johnston died after a short illness on December 31. She is survived by her husband Terry and four sons, Robin, Michael, Ian and Tony.