OBITUARY: Barry E. Johnson, Capuchino High Class Of '57

SAN MATEO, CA — Barry E. Johnson of San Mateo, CA died on February 24, 2018 peacefully after a brief illness at the age of 78.

Born February 8, 1940 in San Francisco to Edwin and Marie (Barrie) Johnson and raised in Millbrae, he grew up a local Peninsula boy of the 1950s, hunting jackrabbits in the Millbrae hills and driving hot rods as a member of the San Bruno Lightning Rods. He graduated from Capuchino High School in 1957 and immediately joined the United States Air Force where he served for over four years with the Strategic Air Command as a jet engine mechanic working on B-52 Bombers.

Barry became a San Bruno Firefighter in 1962 and joined the San Mateo Fire Department in 1964 where he worked his way up the ranks to Deputy Fire Chief. His many accomplishments include the initiation of the first multi-city firefighter recruitment process and developing the Affirmative Action Fire Cadet training program in 1976 which introduced minorities and the first female firefighter to the department. Barry retired from San Mateo in 1993 but continued as an interim fire chief helping various San Mateo county fire departments including Hillsborough, Point Montara and San Bruno, ending his 35-year career in the department where he began.

Barry is survived by his former wife Joan C. Johnson, their four children, Barrie J. Moore (Walter), Dean C. Johnson, Drew W. Johnson and Todd S. Johnson (Dawn Marie), his beloved grandchildren, Ashly Gilson, Christina and Caroline Moore, Kaitlyn and Kyle Johnson, his two great-grandchildren, and his dear friend, Patricia Montgomery.

A lifelong outdoorsman, Barry loved spending time in nature, whether fishing and hunting in the mountains of Lassen and Montana or feeding the squirrels in his own backyard.

Memorials in his honor can be made to the Peninsula Open Space Trust https://openspacetrust.org/donate/ or the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation, https://www.aarbf.org/usapay/.

Funeral services will be private.

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