David Hazen Johnston: October 4, 1987 to August 12, 2015

            David Hazen Johnston died of leukemia on August 12, 2015, at age 27, in Lexington, Massachusetts. David was born October 4, 1987, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Surviving David are his father and mother, James Cannon Johnston and Mary Hazen Johnston of Lexington, Massachusetts; sister Rachel Johnston Rodriguez of New York City; brother Peter Hazen Johnston and his wife Xiomara Henriquez Johnston and their children Andrew Henriquez Johnston and Victoria Henriquez Johnston of New York City; brother Matthew Hazen Johnston of Chicago, Illinois; sister Anne Hazen Johnston of Madison, Wisconsin; brother Samuel Hazen Johnston and his wife Savannah Eccles Johnston of Hawthorne, California; and grandmother Charlotte Cannon Johnston of Chicago, Illinois, and Shelley, Idaho.

            David was four when the family moved from Manchester to Lexington. He attended Fiske Elementary School, Diamond Middle School, and Lexington High School, where he graduated in 2006. He worked in Philadelphia public schools with City Year, served as a full-time Mormon missionary for two years in Colorado and Oklahoma, attended Haverford College for one year, and then joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier in 2011. He trained as a medic and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

            While on a tour of duty in South Korea, he was diagnosed in March 2014 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul with acute myeloid leukemia. He was treated at Walter Reed in Bethesda, Maryland, for two months and then for 15 months at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He received and was grateful for competent and sympathetic care from doctors, nurses, and technicians at these hospitals. His family members feel enormous gratitude for the care David received.

            David was an active, committed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His patience, wisdom, and perspective throughout his ordeal made him a great teacher to all. David and his family have been sustained by the love and support from their local congregation, the Arlington Ward.

            Visiting hours will be at Jim and Mary Johnston’s home at 80 Bedford Street, Lexington, Massachusetts, on Sunday, August 16, 2015, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

David’s funeral will be at the Belmont Chapel, 15 Ledgewood Place, Belmont, Massachusetts, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Dinner will follow.

David has donated his body for medical education and research, so burial will be some months hence, at Westview Cemetery, Lexington, Massachusetts.

Donations

Donations in David’s memory can be made to University of Massachusetts Medical School at https://w3.umassmed.edu/onlinedonation/. Please specify Cancer (Leukemia/Lymphoma). Flowers can be delivered to our home on Friday or Saturday. We expect to organize a blood drive at the Belmont Chapel in memory of David.

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