Edmontonians gathered Saturday at Downtown’s Centennial Plaza to honour the life of Bruce Johnson.

Bruce died by suicide in June. He was 54 years old. He had struggled with depression since he was 10, yet he graduated from the University of Alberta in 1993 — a fact that Dr. Heidi Janz, Associate Adjunct Professor at the U of A’s John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, found meaningful when she researched his life after his death.

TAIT: Albertans with disabilities need a louder voice, and a plan Back to video

“I admire Bruce’s perseverance,” Dr. Janz has said. She also learned about the work Bruce did tending graves — the quiet, careful attention he gave to people the world had moved past.

“It struck me,” she reflected, “that he probably had a sense of empathy and compassion for those who society had forgotten, as he knew what that felt like.”

In his final note,........

© Edmonton Sun