Another unexpected loss

Perhaps this tells you more about my own age than anything else, but I was struck after the death of 58-year-old Catholic newsman Tim Russert to read of another unexpected death in the Catholic world. Bryan M. Johnston, who had been scheduled to become president of St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., July 1, died in his sleep June 6 at the age of 59. The Benedictine-run school held a memorial service for him later that week. Ed Langlois of the Catholic Sentinel in Portland, Ore., wrote this obituary for Johnston, who was a former Oregon state legislator and had served most recently as interim head of the Children, Adults and Families Division in Oregon’s Department of Human Services.