John Campbell
August 7, 2005
John Douglas Campbell – Peacefully, with family by his side and in spirit on
Sunday, August 7, 2005 at the Plummer Memorial Hospital. Eldest son of Frank and Dorothy Campbell of St. Joseph Island. Beloved father of Bonnie Juillette Darrell, Sean Campbell Rachel, Joe Campbell Shawna and Dennis Campbell Wendy, Mother Greer Campbell all of Sault Ste. Marie. Kim Campbell of Toronto and Michelle Hauser Mark of Napanee, Mother Louise Florent of Oakville. John is also survived by his brothers Harold Lynn and Dave Pat, as well as several grandchildren and many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. John will be sadly missed by his family and friends, notably Trudy and also the staff of Q104/CHAS FM. Friends may call at the Northwood Funeral Home 942 Great Northern Road 945-7758 on Wednesday evening from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Funeral service at Free Methodist Church St. Joseph Island on Thursday, August 11, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Tom Gurnick officiating. Memorial donations made to the Sault Area Hospitals Palliative Care Unit would be appreciated by the family. Should you go first and I remain to walk the road alone, I’ll live in memories garden dear, with happy days we’ve known.
Funeral arrangements announced for John Campbell
SooToday.com – August 8, 2005
The funeral service for long-time local broadcaster John Campbell will take place Thursday at Free Methodist Church on St. Joseph Island. Visitation will be on Wednesday evening at Northwood Funeral Home. Campbell died Sunday at age 66.
His journalism career started in 1959 at the Sault Daily Star. He crossed over to local radio in 1967, joining the staff at 920 CKCY and working at both major local stations before moving in 1972 to CKSO radio and television in Sudbury, where his Campbell Comment was born. He also spent time at CKCO Kitchener and CKFM Toronto.
In 1979, Campbell returned to Sault Ste. Marie to work as news director and then operations manager at CFYN/CHAS in Sault Ste. Marie.
John Campbell: passionate, provocative and dearly missed
SooToday.com – August 12, 2005
In private, John Campbell’s many friends knew him as a passionate theologian and philosopher.
In the public arena, he was better known for his pugilistic political commentary.
The large Free Methodist church on St. Joseph’s Island was filled yesterday with mourners who came to lament the loss of a local journalistic giant.
Both on the airwaves and here on SooToday.com, Campbell carved a niche of respect and became the voice of controversial news issues in Sault Ste. Marie during his 35-year career of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
He was fondly remembered yesterday by Russ Hilderley, a longtime friend and broadcasting compatriot.
“He lived and breathed his career in news and broadcasting,” Hilderley said during the eulogy he delivered. “He was absolutely tireless, a provocative commentator, a philosopher.”
It was Hilderley who recruited Campbell to do the news for CKCY in 1967.
He said his new hire quickly developed a highly individual style that made his broadcasts provocative, informative and wildly popular.
“His steadfastness to the truth … sometimes got him in hot water,” said Hilderley. “He never shied from a challenge to his ideas. A challenge only fuelled his convictions … unless the challenge was well thought-out and well-reasoned.”
Hilderley painted Campbell as a man with a great love for ideas and for big words, which he used effectively. Pastor Tom Gurnic concurred.
“John was a man who was passionate about ideas and people,” said Gurnic, describing Campbell as a brilliant and moving speaker.
Gurnic told how Campbell had once, early in his life, considered becoming a minister in the Free Methodist Church.
“I told John he would have made an incredible pastor,” said Gurnic.
But Campbell’s path led him, instead, to the Sault Daily Star in 1959 and later to the news departments of CKCY, and Q104/CHAS FM of Sault Ste. Marie, as well as CKSO Sudbury, CKCO Kitchener and CKFM Toronto.
His uniquely accessible philosophy of life can be studied in the many musings he posted on his Campbell Comment website.
Here’s a sample:
******************* “I need to start taking that extra moment to consult the source of right and good and receive the answer from within that I am prepared to live with.
Yes or No will do nicely and that would put an end to the worry about some test that I’ve said Yes to that I really don’t want to have done.
Cheers I’m John Campbell”
******************* That excerpt was written on December 28, 2004. In May of 2005, Campbell was informed of a lesion on his brain and a tumour on his left kidney.
He continued to write and to actively interact with family, friends and peers after he entered the Palliative Care unit at Sault Area Hospital, where he passed away on Sunday, August 7.
CKCO-TV Memories – John Campbell
rych mills – I certainly recall him…very quiet soft-spoken…did some radio newscasts…never really got to know him but wish I had…taking a wild guess, I’d say around 1975 for 2 or 3 years.
Bill Inkol – I remember John Campbell very well from the time he did a radio news shift around 1974. He was a good news man with a good delivery. Back in those days the station had a softball team that played for various causes in the area that was coached by Big Al. My role was player-manager responsible for arranging games throughout our coverage area and John was one hell of a pitcher who always made it interesting and kept us respectable. Terry Thomas also played. John had a laid back manner about him….just a great guy.