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| Arta Blanche Pilling Johnson May 8, 1940 - June 17th, 2021 |
June 18, 2021
Arta Blanche Johnson was born May 8, 1940, in Calgary
Alberta, in the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot
Confederacy), the people of the Treaty 7 region, and home to the Métis Nation
of Alberta. She died surrounded by loved ones on June 17th, 2021, in Victoria,
BC, traditional territory of the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEC peoples.
Arta's greatest joys were in her connections to others. She will be missed by her children, grandchildren, dear siblings who were her best friends, along with many nieces, nephews, and extended family. Arta's circle of friends was wide. She made many special connections working at the University of Calgary, in feminist activism, with the Calgary Status of Women Action Committee, sharing with her writing group, her spiritual community, her international boarders, and the many people who sat at her dinner table enjoying cinnamon buns, butter horns, or hot bread.
In lieu of flowers, Arta asks that people support Indigenous communities in any way they can. She hopes that we will all reach further in giving life to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action.
Arta's ashes will rest near her much loved Shuswap home in Secwépemc'ulucw.
Arta understood the power of creating memories. We would love to hear any memories you want to share. She loved words and connecting with others in this shared space. Her posts on the larchhaven blog will remain a tender gift to those she loved and is freely shared with any who find their way to this space of sharing, learning, and loving.
The year she turned 80, she wrote 80 blogposts celebrating 80 memories for 80 years. You can find them here. https://grandmotherarta.wordpress.com/2021/05/16/80-memories-for-80-years/.
"Remembering Arta"
An on-line funeral service for Arta was held on Saturday, June 26, 2021. You can watch it at the youtube channel below:
Click here to watch Arta's funeral service
Click here for a link to Arta's "Grandmother Arta" blog, where you will find a copy of the Program
Click here to see Arta's Funeral Program
My all encompassing memory of Arta is her kind and gentle spirit. I only have memories of her smiling and caring and visiting. So many great memories in the family home and at the lake.
ReplyDeleteDecorating the Library Lounge. It didn't matter what season or holiday it was, the U of C library lounge was always decorated by Arta. Christmas was her favorite time to decorate and the whole office would be lit up with decorations everywhere. After she retired that all stopped and people definitely noticed!!!
ReplyDeleteShe certainly loved Christmas and making life feel like a party.
DeleteShe gave me much joy! From pretending she was a witch and that she had her broom under her bed. I did not dare look as I was petrified as a child of 5-6. From showing me when I lived with you guys when I was in university how to come home with leftovers from a salad bar or taking me to the best thrift stores in town and coming home with tons and tons of fun clothes. I had so much fun! I remembering her let all of you guys bring friends home for lunch and everyone eating as many cinnamon buns, donuts or butterhorns they could. I tried to continue that with my children but I worked a 1/2 from home so I would send scones dipped in sugar to school with my kids until the teachers gave me heck for giving all the kids a sugar high in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI loved you mother so much. She was one of the sweetest ladies I have known. She will be missed. Hugs to you all! Love Cam
thanks for these memories, Cam!
DeleteA bright light has been extinguished, but the energy and glow of a life fully lived and embraced, will continue. Our paths crossed many times during my work life at the U of C, and my many memories of this strong, warm and caring woman will stay with me and many others. Her advocacy for others and enthusiasm in whatever she undertook makes her a unique and wonderful role model for all women. You will be sorely missed Arta, but your indomitable personality lives on among us. Peace, Elli Jilek
ReplyDeleteInstead of saying goodbye to Arta, I will say “Hello, again”. I remember sitting in a uni lecture with her. We drew zombie pictures of the professor and laughed ourselves silly. (Rebecca was the professor. 😂)
ReplyDeleteLori, thanks for this fabulous memory. Arta would agree with "Hello, again!" (though I now want to see what those zombie pictures looked like!) :-)
Delete"Marry a woman who is smarter than you and you will live comfortably."
ReplyDeleteTurns out Arta was right. Nowhere did her wit and wisdom appear more strongly than in her writings. I remember how impressed I was with her chapter in "Polygamy's Rights and Wrongs." How can one so masterfully analyze a complex subject with sharp humour and without boring her audience?
Eliana and I will always remember the moments we shared with her.
I nodded when Arta told me in her last few days that she felt she had left a large enough footprint of writing for us to feel connected to her when she was gone. Like you, Pouria, I find her writing captures both her wisdom and her wit.
DeleteI have fond memories of the one time I was able to visit Arta in her home in NW Calgary back in about 2009. She was delightful, sharp as a tack, and a joy to have a conversation with. Her love and guidance were so helpful to me and my family as we navigated a major life transition. I am deeply thankful for her wisdom and support.
ReplyDeleteMy first memory of Arta was this distinguished looking woman who would sit in the gymnasium at Branton for every girls volleyball or basketball game. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the University of Calgary for my first real library job when that same woman was there to greet me and show me to my office. Whether it was teaching us how to make cinnamon knots, planning celebrations, or quietly guiding me in how the university worked, Arta was always patient and kind. Her gentleness is what I will remember the most about her. That and her distinguised white hair. Although you have lost a loved one, the memories that she has created for you and all of us are innumerable. She is a force who will continue to impact those around her.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me of memories of my mother Arta in the gym at Branton Jr High. She was such an amazing mother.
DeleteArta would take all the cousins on Nature walks. I wasn’t crazy about these walks as a child. They felt boring and long although I imagine they were shorter than I remember. What I loved was being with my cousins whom I cherished. I would be goofing around with Kelly and Teague while Arta had the others captivated. The walks would cover all the grounds out at Shuswap. It could be the long walk to the beach or the old road to the highway. She would stop every few steps and bends over and encourage us to lean in and examine a flower, a leaf, a branch and then she would tell a story about it. She seemed to know all forest species. Fast forward to current day and one of my favorite things to do is walk around the mountains and forests of Arizona and stop and examine trees, leaves and grasses. I like to think that Arta inspired this love. 💕. —Amanda
ReplyDeleteI too think of those walks, cousin Amanda. I have two vivid very early images in my mind - the moss under our feet, the shoes of my loved ones I was keeping track of so I wouldn't get separated from the group. I'm lucky to have early memories of connection to loved ones and connection to the earth.
DeleteThank you for these beautiful words, thoughts, music and love. Thank you for making a space for all of us to treasure our relationships with Arta.
ReplyDeleteHello Johnson family, thank you for allowing us the opportunity to help celebrate the life and loves of our friend; your mother Arta. My mother Marilyn Gilson has asked my to write a brief thank you. Arta and Marilyn were life long friends, first in grade school, and in Church through the young women's programs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as young marrieds and raising their respective broods of children and grandchildren....all through thick and thin, they laughed , celebrated, and on occasion cried together. " Thank You Arta, for being my friend" that sums it up I think. Thank you once again. Dan and Marilyn Gilson.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, Dan. Arta loved your mom Marilyn so much, and in this last year, she often spoke of stories about the two of them.
ReplyDeleteThe virtual celebration of life was so beautiful, and the images and words and music linger with me still. Well done to all of you who contributed to it and thank you for such a treasure that I can watch again.
ReplyDeletewas sending out Thanksgiving greetings in my Canadian friends today, and got the autoreply about Arta's passing.
ReplyDeleteI got to know Arta through ELWC, and feminist LDS blog in the 1990s. Wyona and (I believe) Moiya also chimed in there, so the Piling Clan was well represented. I remember one thread on that blog where one of the posters, Cherie Woodworth, compared me favorably to Arta. I remember the event in some detail because it was jaw-dropping for me. I remember thinking at the time that that was almost certainly going to be the best compliment that I was ever going to get in my life, and nothing has happened in the ensuing 25 years to change my mind.
I routinely go to Winnipeg for Thanksgiving, except for these last two years, and often take the long way via Calgary, and stopped and saw Arta. Over the years I got to wander around U of Calgary, braid a large bowl of dough into dinner rolls of some sort, discuss professors we both had some connection to (Aretha van Herk is the only name I still remember), and building progress at Shuswap, and tales of the children. I remember one time in particular when I was viewing with alarm the possibility that Quebec might vote to separate from the rest of Canada, and she sent me an essay/cri de coeur by Rebecca about why that would be a tragic turn of events. Arta was one of the most candid people I knew, and probably the most diplomatic - two traits that do not often go together. She was a light on the hill.
Gene, thanks for this note. You are definitely on the list of people she loved!
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