Charles Sackett Johnson, 74

Charles Sackett Johnson, who died unexpectedly at his home on March 4, was widely admired as the most knowledgeable and longest-tenured reporter in the state of Montana. He practiced his craft during journalism’s golden age, starting not long after the Anaconda Co. unlocked the copper collar that had hobbled the Montana press, and retiring when corporate newspaper owners began to turn away from their commitment to vigorous reporting.

Chuck was born June 14, 1948, in Great Falls to Franklin Quentin “Q” Johnson and Ruth Ann “Rudy” Sackett Johnson. The family soon moved to Helena, where Chuck spent most of his life, graduating from Helena High School and winning a scholarship to the University of Montana. His love for newspapers was honed at the School of Journalism by professors who he said handed back student stories with so many red marks that he said it looked as if the Crimean War had been fought over them. But it gave him a love for language, a sense of fairness, a passion for thoroughness and a respect for history and politics. He was at his core a shy man, but journalism made him make the tough phone calls, talk to the reluctant sources, find the stories behind the stories and write copy as his old professor used to demand: terse, tight and telegraphic.

At UM he was sports editor of the Montana Kaimin and later the managing editor. His interest in sports led to his first memorabilia collection, the programs for every high school basketball championship played in Montana. He grew up loving the New York Yankees, a team favored by his father. A Helena neighbor found herself on the same train as the Yankees and got several players, including Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford, to sign a yellow legal pad to their “friend Chuck Johnson.” But once the Yankees fired manager Yogi Berra Chuck switched his allegiance to the team his mother favored, the Chicago Cubs. Chuck’s last trip just weeks ago was to Arizona to see the Cubs in spring training. His collection of political buttons, some dating back more than 100 years, was so extensive that the Montana Historical Society asked for the collection.

Chuck was messy, but only on the outside. He could fairly quickly lay his hands on any one of thousands—maybe hundreds of thousands—of pieces of paper, magazine articles or excerpts from books. He was a voracious reader and would frequently send books to friends if he thought they’d enjoy them. He made frequent calls to friends, stretching back to grade school and quietly helped many.

Chuck began his journalism career in college, covering summer sports for The Helena Independent Record and later worked part-time at The Missoulian. While in school he won a Sears Congressional Internships, and Chuck was grateful to be placed in the office of Idaho Sen. Frank Church. While in history graduate school he began to work for the Associated Press, initially as a summer fill-in, but his work was so impressive he was hired to cover the Constitutional Convention in 1972. In the fall of that year he began a two-year stint at The Missoulian and in 1974 joined the Lee State Bureau. After Lee junked the bureau in 1977 he was recruited by Great Falls Tribune Capitol Bureau chief Tom Kotynski to work for the Trib at a time when the Tribune circulated in every corner of the state. When the Tribune shook up the Capitol Bureau, Lee Enterprises lured Chuck back as bureau chief, a job he held until Lee disbanded its bureau in 2015. Chuck retired, but missed the work so he covered one last legislative session in 2017 for the Bozeman Chronicle. During his years at the capitol he mentored countless reporters, helping make their work better because better journalism, he thought, made for a better Montana.

While Chuck loved journalism, it was family that sustained him. He loved his brothers Tom and Peter and sister Sally and cherished their children, telling them the same jokes from the time they could talk until the weeks before he died. He’d teach them things that he knew would annoy their parents. He never tired of the Three Stooges and would often text the family clips he knew would make them laugh. One of his greatest delights was making his wife, Pat Hunt, laugh at the most inappropriate times. He and Pat were married on July 7, 2000, and she said she picked that date—07-07—so he could easily remember it, though she was the first to forget. Pat saved his life and kept him, mostly, from spending all his time among his books and papers. Chuck wanted to live to read the final Robert Caro book about Lyndon Johnson, a goal he inherited from a friend who also didn’t realize that goal.

Though he shunned the spotlight, he was surprised and pleased when the University of Montana named him a Distinguished Alumnus, and again when Montana State University awarded him an honorary doctorate in May 2022, recognizing not just his storied journalism career but his full life of service. In addition to his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Montana, he studied for a year at Oxford University under a Rotary fellowship. He was able to travel extensively in Europe and said his visit to World War II concentration camps helped broaden his perspective on humanity. In retirement he rarely turned down offers from people in every corner of the state to speak about journalism, politics, the legislature, and the Constitutional Convention and he served as president of the board for the Montana Free Press, and was on the boards of the Montana Historical Society and the UM Alumni Association.

For several years he, Mike Dennison and Rob Saldin participated in Capitol Talk, a weekly program for Montana Public Radio hosted by Sally Mauk.

Chuck loved and actively participated at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in many roles, including making blueberry pancake breakfasts and serving as the unofficial timer of sermons. Above all else, he was unfailingly kind.

Chuck quietly contributed money to people and organizations he thought would put it to use to help those who couldn’t always help themselves. His gifts were often anonymous, as he hated the spotlight, though some organizations persuaded him that his name attached would encourage other potential donors to contribute. In that spirit, Pat asks that contributions in his name be made to the Charles Johnson Student Reporting Endowment at the University of Montana School of Journalism, via the UM Foundation, P.O. Box 7159, Missoula, MT 59807, or the elevator fund at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral, P.O. Box 819, Helena, MT 59624, or the Montana Free Press, P.O. Box 1425, Helena, MT 59624.

In addition to Pat Hunt, he is survived by his brothers, Tom (Kerry), and Peter (Carol Potera), his sister, Sally (Ross Miller) and nieces and nephews, Allison, Curtis, Luke, Jacob and Florence, Arlo, Jane, Hannah, Isabelle and great-niece Abigail.

Services will be March 18 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter’s. A reception will be at 3 p.m. at the Great Northern Hotel, 835 Great Northern Blvd, Helena.