Retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Frank Lynwood Johnstone, 85, died Thursday, May 28, 2009. Mr. Johnstone was born in Haleyville, Alabama, March 10, 1924, to the late Eugene Donald Johnstone and Mary Esther Hall Johnstone. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Virginia. Mr. Johnstone retired from the U.S. Navy May 31, 1964 after 22 years of service. He was a veteran of World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam War. His naval career included flying patrol bombers in the Pacific, instructing future pilots at flight school in Hutchinson, KS, and flying blimps in Brunswick, GA, and Lakehurst, NJ. He served as Communications Officer on the USS Independence and at the Naval Air Station ‘s Air Control Tower in Norfolk, VA. Mr. Johnstone then taught science in the Virginia Beach Public Schools for twenty-three years, including classes at John. B. Dey, Windsor Woods, Kemps Landing, and Pembroke Meadows Elementary Schools. He served as Assistant Principal at Williams Elementary and finished his career at Independence Junior High School in 1987.
Mr. Johnstone was an Episcopalian and member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Norfolk, VA where he served as Vestryman and Treasurer.
Mr. Johnstone is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ellin Fogle Johnstone; sister Virginia Sisson and her husband Harold of Columbus, MS; his brother Eugene H. Johnstone and his wife Peggy of Chestertown, MD; his daughters Margaret J. Miller and her husband S.E. “Skip” Miller, Carol J. Heischober, and Robin J. Baugh, all of Virginia Beach; his sons David H. Johnstone and his wife Kimberly and Paul L. Johnstone, all of Virginia Beach; and his grandchildren Andy Miller and his wife MaryAnn, Nate Miller, Jay Johnstone, Jessica Johnstone, and Elizabeth Baugh. He was predeceased by his parents, his brothers, Bobby and Joseph, and his granddaughter, Erin Heischober.
Mr. Johnstone’s leadership and strength of character will continue to influence not only his family and friends, but also the many students he sought to challenge in the field he dearly cherished – education.
