Melvin Earl Johnston passed away at home, in Friday Harbor, on Sunday, November 24. Mel had been touch and go healing from stage 3 throat cancer for the past 9 months, but his passing happened very quickly.
Mel – known as Melpo to his grandchildren and Melski to his good friends – was born in Eugene, OR to Peggy and Cecil Johnston, the youngest of three siblings. He grew up running around outside and thrived in the outdoors his entire life. He met the love of his life and wife, Linda Castleman, in high school and they married in 1973. Mel learned to rock climb and embraced the community at Smith Rocks, where he made friendships that would last his whole life. As a young man, Mel was able to really develop his passion for rock climbing and mountaineering. He spent time in Yosemite, hanging out at Camp 4 and climbing El Cap and Half Dome. His two children, Aaron and Megan, were born in 1975 and 1977 and, somewhere out there in the desert there is a route named after each of them. The whole family moved to Alaska in 1981, eager for opportunity and adventure.
In Alaska, Mel honed his skills as a carpenter and would spend the rest of his life building houses, both for himself and others. He also honed his backcountry skills, telemarking with friends locally and even into the Brooks Range. He cheated death early when he was swept up in an avalanche deep in Hatcher’s Pass, but a friend saw his hand sticking up above the snow, and dug him out. Mel never actually expected to live as long as he did, for there was always an adventure calling. He began set net commercial fishing when they first moved to Alaska, as crew for his brother and sister in laws, Alec and Nancy Taylor, whom he had a close friendship with his entire life. In 1990, he and Linda started their own fishing operation right next door, which he continued right up until 2022. For the majority of those years, his crew consisted of Linda, his son Aaron and wife Amanda, and their good friend Rafael – the ‘Tubes of Efficiency’ – and summers were full of hard work, but also fun times with bonfires, music, strange crafts and good friends.
Mel and Linda returned to Pleasant Hill, Oregon in 1997, where they were able to spend more time with Mel’s family. Friday nights were filled with musical jam sessions with his brother Allen and their friends. He loved a midday beer, being on the water, sport fishing, hiking and taking camping road trips. Mel and Linda moved to Friday Harbor, WA in 2017 and found a welcoming new community, anchored by friends Bill and Chris Carli. Mel and Linda broke ground on their new home in 2020 and continued working on it, by hand, together, right up to when Mel passed, even when Mel was weary and in pain from the throat cancer that made his last year a real challenge.
We are all so very thankful that Mel and Linda spontaneously dropped everything, flew down to Arizona and bought a small RV, just a month before Mel died. They road tripped together around the southwest and had more fun in those few weeks than they had experienced in many months. Mel passed only 4 days after returning home.
He is survived by his wife: Linda, children: Aaron Johnston and Megan Noet, grandchildren: Errol and Axel Noet and his sister: Kathy Patchovsky.
Mel wasn’t a traditional man, but we’d like you to think of him when you hear a random snatch of song or a big laugh, look out from a summit or see a confusing text populated mostly by emojis, and whenever you enjoy a stiff drink by the water.
To share memories of Mel please visit https://www.evanschapel.com/obituary/Melvin-Johnston