Franklin Robert Johnston

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Franklin Robert Johnston on June 10, 2026, at Whisperwood Villa in Charlottetown at the age of 80.

Born in Charlottetown on September 3, 1945, and raised in Canavoy, Prince Edward Island, Frank was predeceased by his father, Robert Johnston, who emigrated from Scotland as a child in 1925, and his mother Catherine (Piggott) Johnston. Bobby and Catherine both served Canada in the Second World War, Bobby in the infantry with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and Catherine as a Nursing Sister. They started a family after their service and worked hard to make ends meet. Bobby fished lobster and worked as a blacksmith, Catherine picked blueberries — with two toddlers in tow.

From his parents, he learned the strong work ethic and generosity that guided him throughout his life.  As a young adult, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, but not before negative experiences in a school system not-yet designed to accommodate neurodiversity left him with a profound drive to prove himself to the world.

Frank’s entrepreneurial spirit showed itself early. A peculiar odour in the schoolhouse led to the discovery of the skunk snouts in his locker. Young Franklin was hoping to cash in on the $1 dollar-a-snout cull bounty offered by the province at the time.

In his youth, he excelled in sports; playing hockey and running track and field. He was strong and fast, winning a hundred-yard dash as a teenager at a track meet in Charlottetown, despite homemade wooden starting blocks when all the city kids had proper metal ones.

Frank moved to Charlottetown and worked at Ellis Brothers stocking grocery shelves and at Maritime Electric feeding the boilers on the night shift while returning to school as a mature student to earn his high school diploma. He had a side hustle welding wrought-iron railings for front steps, many of which remain around the city today.

In 1968, he married Valerie Downe and together they built the first house on Emerald Drive, named after Valerie’s birthstone. It is now a beautiful street with a treed canopy. The family enjoyed many happy years of community on that street.

Two children followed in short order, Beth in 1972, and Blake a year later.  As a new father, he sought advice and mentoring from several local businesspeople and, in 1973, at the age of 28, after a training stint in Chicago, Illinois, he opened the Island’s first McDonald’s franchise in Charlottetown. A second restaurant followed a few years later in Summerside.

The corporate leadership later made his Charlottetown franchise a test market for several new products knowing that Frank would deliver the results they needed to make North American-wide product launch decisions.

In the 1970s, he developed a love of distance running and lasting friendships with founding members of the PEI Road Runners. 

In 1977, they ran 100 Miles (161 km) as a group – not a relay, each runner ran the whole way — over three days from Moncton to Charlottetown to raise funds for playground equipment at St. Jean’s school. With a CFCY van along for live updates, all eight runners arrived to a cheering crowd in front of the cenotaph.

Frank was an involved member of the community, coaching and sponsoring kid’s sports teams and supporting charitable causes.  In 1977, he was chair of the Canadian National Boy Scout Jamboree hosted in PEI. He was the chief fundraiser for the Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island, where he introduced an inclusive fundraising model that removed financial barriers, giving everyone a chance to participate. This model is still used today.

 In April of 1982, he had Jean Chrétien — then Pierre Trudeau’s Justice Minister — lined up to speak at an annual dinner.  At the last minute, Chrétien cancelled to attend important meetings in the run-up to the signing of the Canadian constitution with Queen Elizabeth. Frantic, with a ballroom full of dinner guests and no guest speaker, Frank ran into Don Herron in the hotel lobby and begged for his help. After a quick briefing from Frank on the ins and outs of PEI politics, Herron emerged as his alter ego “Charlie Farquharson” and brought the house down, saving the day, and the fundraiser.

Frank also liked to have fun. He and Valerie were members of the “Galloping Gluttons” dinner club, a group of local couples who took turns hosting elaborate and often raucous dinner parties in the 70s and 80s. Get out the limbo stick and Frank could go low.

Despite having no formal trades training, he built many of his homes himself. He was a passionate pilot, flying his twin-engine Cessna all over the eastern seaboard of Canada and the US. He once flew Bobby Orr back to Moncton to catch a flight.

Frank had an innate ability to see way ahead of his time.

He accurately predicted how Charlottetown would grow and expand. After selling his restaurants, be began purchasing and developing residential and commercial properties and building more businesses. His aspirations to build a major shopping centre in West Royalty were scuttled in a high-profile land use battle with the provincial government.

So, in typical Frank fashion, he did not give up, but went from city back to country — developing a 30-acre cranberry farm at Point Deroche.

He and his second spouse, Brenda McIlwaine spent decades together hosting large crews at harvest time and their place at the shore had a steady stream of visitors popping by for a drink and a laugh.

Frank nurtured inner peace through nature — tending to his bees, feeding wild foxes and battling Canada geese intent on snacking on his crops. Once the cranberry fields were frozen for the winter, he loved to snowmobile with friends to the Gaspé region of Quebec.

A lifelong optimist, Frank believed that almost anything could be accomplished with hard work, determination and a willingness to take a chance. He was self-made in every sense of the word and never backed away from a challenge.

Some of his happiest times were spent on the water or building homes along the shore and watching the ever-changing tides.

In his final years, Frank faced the challenges of dementia with grace. While the disease and loss of mobility deeply frustrated him, he never lost his signature grin and was always saying “thank you” to his caregivers at Whisperwood Villa, some of whom affectionately referred to him as “the handsome one.”

We are deeply grateful for the care they provided and the dignity they afforded him in his final months.

To his family, Frank was Dad, Grampie — provider, protector and fixer. He didn’t like to express his feelings with words, but he showed his love through actions.

His children and grandchildren will carry forward his determination, generosity and optimism.

He is survived by his spouse, Brenda McIlwaine; his brother Sterling Johnston, his daughter, Beth Johnston; his son, Blake Johnston; and his beloved grandchildren, Daniel and Charles Ross, Mabel and Russell Johnston, as well as many family members and friends who will miss his larger-than-life presence, ever-open door and bottomless pots of chowder.

Just a few days before he died, Frank asked for the keys to his truck so he could go home to the shore.  If hope and sheer force of will had allowed him to, he would have lived forever, as he will in our hearts.

Because he admired the courage and determination of newcomers to Canada, memorial donations in his memory may be made to the Immigrant & Refugee Services Association PEI. In honour of the dunes, marshes and shores of “good old P.E.I.” donations may also be made to the Island Nature Trust.

Please join the family of Frank Johnston for a gathering to celebrate Frank’s life at Belvedere Funeral Home on Monday, June 15, 2026, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., with words of remembrance delivered at 5:30 p.m. This portion will be livestreamed via the following link Remembering Frank. If you experience difficulty accessing the livestream, please call 1-877-895-2739.