Obituary - Dr Grant Johnston

Dr Grant Johnston was a placid gentleman and nothing bothered him.
Dr Johnston died at his home in Hamilton on July 11 having celebrated his 90th birthday 11 weeks earlier.
When he was 19, and after four years working on the family's Eltham farm, Grant Johnston returned to secondary school because he wanted to become a doctor.
Stratford Technical High insisted the young man wear the regulation school uniform short pants, and he did.
In a year the young man caught up on four years of physics and Latin and won a place at Otago Medical School.
He went on to train as an eye surgeon in London and on his return he performed New Zealand's first artificial lens implant in Hamilton in the 60s; and paved the way for major advances in the treatment of cataracts.
He graduated in 1943 and went to work at Auckland Hospital followed by a year at Rotorua Hospital.
In 1946 he entered private practice at Kaponga.
After a chance meeting with a colleague in 1953, Dr Johnston was invited to become resident medical officer in Niue.
A visiting eye surgeon to Niue operated on cataract patients assisted by Dr Johnston. His interest led to acceptance on a one-year eye surgery course in London followed by a two-year stint at Southhampton Eye Hospital in the late 50s.
On his return to New Zealand Dr Johnston took over the eye surgery practice of Hector Levin and became a visiting eye surgeon at Waikato Hospital.
Dr Johnston married his second wife Nan Olivant in 1976 and remained in regular practice until the late 1980s, and on his retirement he still continued with clinics in small Waikato towns for the Waikato Hospital Board. In 1991, aged 74, Dr Johnston went to Pitcairn Island at the request of the British Government to work on the islanders' eye problems.
Dr Johnston was the third child of Charles and Florence Johnston of Eltham. Charles was a jeweller and also ran a small dairy farm.
His eldest sister Joyce Robertson moved from Eltham to Te Aroha in the late 70s. Joyce's son David, of Kaponga, said his favourite uncle always called in to see his mother to have a cup of tea.
"We called my uncle Johnny. He was well respected in Kaponga and his surgery is still in the old Kaponga Hospital," said David.
Dr Johnston was the last in the Johnston family, and his wife Nan, daughters Rae and Carol, and four grandchildren survive him.