John Johnstone (athlete)
John Oliver Johnstone (January 21, 1892 – February, 1969) was an American track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics where he finished sixth in the high jump competition.
He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and died in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
John Oliver Johnstone was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the son of Welsh immigrants James G Johnstone and Bloodwyn Hannah Oliver Johnstone and had one sister Jenette. He spent much of his youth competing in track and field events throughout New England, attending the Edward Devotion School in Brookline and then going on to Worcester Academy before becoming the youngest member at the time to represent the USA in the Olympics which were held in Stockholm, Sweden.
On the SS Finlandia which took the team to Sweden he was the roommate of Jim Thorpe. Upon graduation from Worcester Academy where he attained status as World Schoolboy champion - winning American Athletic Association championships he went on to study and graduate from Harvard in 1916 and moved with his wife Ann Catherine Temple Jones to Lewiston, Maine to Bates College where he was a professor of French and the Track Coach.
In December 1921 John Oliver and Ann welcomed a daughter, Lywena Temple. By 1924 he was offered a position teaching and coaching at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and moved his family to Worcester. He became active in the United Presbytery and served as a deacon in their church.
Another child was born to them as John Oliver Johnstone II who died in infancy and the following year John Oliver Johnstone lll was born healthy and became known as "Jack". Ann and Oliver went on to see their children and nine grandchildren flourish from their home in Holden, Massachusetts until 1966 when they retired. Retiring, Oliver became a substitute teacher in the Worcester Public Schools and helped to coach with a nephew at Assumption College always wanting to share with young athletes all that he had learned over many decades as a teacher and coach.
He spent summertimes in Ann's native Vermont on Lake St Catherine and spending time with his grandchildren Golfing, Bridge and Croquet were favorite pastimes until he passed in February 1969.
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