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Long-time Vermont journalist Sally Johnson dies

Sally Johnson

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MONTPELIER – Sally Johnson, a long-time Vermont editor and journalist who chronicled the rise of Madeleine Kunin and Bernard Sanders in state politics, died Wednesday night after a lengthy illness.

Johnson, 60, of Middlebury, spent nearly 20 years as an editor for the Rutland Herald and three years as the editor of Vermont Magazine. She wrote many prominent profiles of Vermont politicians and was often celebrated for her ability to write about the personalities behind news headlines.

“She represents to me the golden age of Vermont journalism,” said Steve Kimbell, a retired Vermont lobbyist. “She started writing before the pace of journalism really picked up and that space allowed her to write some investigative and thoughtful pieces that were incredibly valuable.”

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., in Aug. 1950, Johnson spent her youth in Parkville, Md., where she first developed her fascination with horses and journalism.

She spent a year teaching in India after graduating from Middlebury College in 1972 and even her early journalism career was distinguished: Her early jobs included working on the radio desk in New York for the Associated Press and some time as a copy proofreader for Newsweek.

Johnson was ready to leave the state in 1980 when she stopped into the offices of the Rutland Herald – and was hired as an editor by then-editor Steve Terry. Over the years, her title evolved into features editor and she helped the newspaper create its Vermont Sunday Magazine supplement.

After leaving the world of daily newspapers, Johnson worked as the editor of Vermont Magazine and freelanced for national media publications such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe and local organizations such as Seven Days and Vtdigger.org.

Terry, who married Johnson in 1992, said her gift was to profile the names behind the news headlines, including chronicling Kunin’s rise to the governor’s office and the electoral ascension of Sanders from a radical candidate to populist politician.

“I was always in awe of her and her intelligence,” said Yvonne Daley, a former Rutland Herald reporter and one of Johnson’s longtime friends. “She had this amazing ability to see through the quagmire of a story or an issue.”

Paula Routly, the co-owner of the Seven Days newspaper, said Johnson was a tough editor who sometimes let reporters squirm a bit when she asked pointed – and important – questions about the stories they were working on.

“When you got to know her, she was a big softie,” Routly said.

Routly said Johnson’s drive to write and report never went away, even when she was sick. Last year, she wrote a first-person story for Seven Days about her two liver transplants, an assignment that was difficult because she rarely talked about her illness.

“She worked right up until the end,” she said. “Her institutional knowledge of Vermont politics was amazing.”

A story she wrote, “Vital Organ,” published in April 2009, pulled back the public curtain on her illness and the emotional and physical ups and downs she experienced as a two-time liver transplant recipient in 2006 and 2008.

“Today, I am left with a choking regimen of pills three times a day, a morbid fear of infections owing to the immuno-suppressed condition of my body, and the omnipresent threat of debilitating fatigue if I overexert myself or don’t get enough sleep,” she wrote.

Terry said his wife discovered in 1997 that she had Hepatitis C and she spent the last 13 years fighting the effects of that disease on her body. Against odds, she qualified for two transplants and the new organs kept her healthy for some time, allowing her to ski and ride horses again, two of her beloved pastimes, he said.

“She did really well for awhile,” Terry said. “She went downhill skiing this past winter. She rode her horses. She was making plans for the future.”

Terry said his wife’s health worsened about one month ago. She died Wednesday night around 6 p.m. at Fletcher Allen Medical Center in Burlington. Terry said they had plans to travel to India this November with their 25-year-old son, Will.

“She was a traveler,” Terry said. “She wanted us to see where she spent part of her youth.”

Terry said he hopes to hold a memorial service for Johnson at the chapel at Middlebury College, where the two were married.

daniel.barlow@timesargus.com