David Alan Johnston

David Alan Johnston, born in Chicago on 4/2/1942, died at his Indianapolis home on 5/15/2024.

Dave grew up the beloved son of the late Perry and Helen Rohrer Johnston in what he considered a fairy tale perfect childhood in the lovely village of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with annual vacations all over the West, and summer stays with both sets of grandparents and his cousin Bob in the tiny farming town of Sibley, Illinois. His father led his Boy Scout troop and Dave was an Eagle Scout.

He graduated from Glenbard High School (now Glenbard West) in 1960, and then attended Butler University as a pharmacy major with a tennis scholarship. He spent happy years at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house, where he was High Alpha and made lifelong friends.

It was at Butler that Dave met his wife of almost 59 years, Patricia Irwin Johnston. They courted by taking long walks with Sad Sam McCracken, the LXA Bulldog (before Butler had its official live mascot,Blue) and married in August 1965. They lived in Glen Ellyn for a year, while he “paid back” the summer job hours held for him through school breaks and vacations at Heintz Drug Store. He served on Glen Ellyn’s Volunteer Fire Department.

In 1967 Dave and Pat moved back to Indianapolis, where he continued a long career in retail pharmacy, most of it spent with Hook’s Drug/CVS. This sent them to Richmond, IN for three years, back to Indianapolis (where he was a Captain in the then all-volunteer Washington Township Fire Department).

In 1976, with their first child, Joel Phillips Johnston, in tow, they were sent to Ft. Wayne, where Dave spent a dozen years as a divisional coordinator for the chain, and his family added two daughters, Erica Brooke Johnston (Marchetti) and Lindsey Anne Johnston (Walker.) In 1988 they moved back to Indianapolis, working directly with the public again as a store manager/pharmacist, retiring from CVS in 2009.

Ever centered on what needed doing in his world, Dave spent years volunteering for organizations that were important to him: People’s Burn Foundation and their Camp Brave Heart, (now part of Hoosier Burn Camp) WTFD Retired Firefighters’ community fire safety programing, coaching for the Washington Township Girls’ Basketball Association, North Willow Farms Swim Team, St Luke’s UMC and Bethlehem UMC, and the Indiana Adoption Coalition. As a proud and devoted father, he attended numerous swim meets, and track and cross country meets. He planned great family vacations around the U.S. and Caribbean, and was happy to ferry people to and from all kinds of activities.

In retirement, Dave and Pat moved from North Willow Farms in Washington Township, Indianapolis, to a house in Geist, enjoying a postage stamp yard with a six-minute mow, so that they could spend more time reading, traveling to visit grandchildren, volunteering at church and boating on the lake. They could also be spotted at Butler men’s basketball games, holding season tickets for a decade.

Dave was preceded in death by his younger sister, Brett Johnston, his parents and a close cousin, Bob Rohrer. He is survived by his wife, Pat, his children Joel (Jessica), Erica (Michael), and Lindsey (Brice), and his grandchildren, Eliana and Rocco Marchetti, Courtney and Rex Johnston, and Chance and Ashton Walker as well as his brothers and sisters in law, Phil Irwin III, Erv and Barbara Irwin-Herman, and Dave and Marge Irwin Bury, five nieces and nephews and six grandnieces and nephews.

Our family will be forever grateful to Rehab Hospital of Indiana, Centerwell home therapists, St Vincent and Community Hospitals, the wonderful people at Community Hospice, and to Senior Home Companions, which provided Dave’s daily caregivers, Ralph Black and Mark Lee (ably assisted by Pat, Lindsey, and Brice!)

Dave will be cremated, and a joyful celebration of his life will be held at St Luke’s United Methodist Church on Friday, May 31,2024 at 2:00 pm followed by visitation with the family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hoosier Burn Camp or Butler University