Alfred Johns (ON 1922), our oldest Old Boy, passed away on 8 January 2014. Alfred was born on Boxing Day 1908 and had just recently turned 105.

Alfred came to Newington at the age of 12 in 1921, following his brother Fred who had arrived the previous year, and stayed until the end of 1922. When he was interviewed in 2009 by then student Eric Shi (ON 2010), Alfred claimed that he ‘wasn’t really the best student academically’, but he loved playing cricket and football. He also admitted that he and his friends got into trouble ‘a lot’ and were required to pick up nails and bits of bricks and tiles from the newly laid out Johnson Oval, since its top dressing had come from a building site.

During the Second World War, Alfred served in the Army as a medical administrator. After the war, he worked at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for 27 years, retiring to Tasmania in 1974. Quietly generous, he and his wife looked after a boy from a struggling family and helped him through his education. The boy entered the Air Force and made a career as a pilot.

Alfred remained connected with Newington College during his adult life. He and his school friend, Harvey Waddington (ON 1922), with their wives, followed the Head of the River and regularly attended College rugby matches until he retired to Tasmania. When Dr Fred Chenhall (ON 1921) told Alfred that he had arranged in his will to have a racing eight built and presented to the College, Alfred advised him to donate and build the boat straight away, so that he could see it win the Head of the River. Fred took Alfred’s advice but, sadly, died before Newington’s 1^st VIII won the 1963 Head of the River in ‘The Chenhall’.

Just a few days before Alfred’s passing, a relative of friends of his living in the same retirement village met him for the first time. When she told him of her Newington connections, he smiled, squeezed her hand and said ‘Those were good years.’

 Mr David Roberts
College Archivist