DON JOHNSON 1922 – 2016 Don had been a member of Ulverston Amateurs for 70 years. He had one of those rare voices in amateur theatre, that of a true tenor. He performed in every show from 1947 taking minor leading roles in the early days until he decided to bow out from the stage in 2003 after performing in Guys and Dolls. His enthusiasm and love of the society remained as true as ever. He became our house manager carrying out his duties admirably and with the same dedication and verve for 20 years. He was truly honoured when he became the society President seldom missing either rehearsals or Committee meetings and taking great interest and pleasure from them. In fact, he had served on the committee without a break for over 50 years. To our great sadness and irreplaceable sense of loss Don passed away peacefully in April 2016 aged 94 but not before he had arranged his funeral service with his daughter, Helen. We always thought Don would be around and with us forever. It seemed fitting that he requested the Society to sing songs from Les Misérables, one of his favourite modern musicals at his funeral. We were very privileged to be asked and some forty plus members joined with his many friends to say goodbye in the appropriate manner, singing our hearts out for a wonderful President and real gentleman who had served Ulverston Amateurs and the amateur theatre in general so long and so well.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODU3MzQ=