St George Leagues Club will this month host a launch for a memoir on the life of club great Brian Johnson titled “Letters for Brian: Writing through the silence of dementia”.
The Book Launch will be held at St George Leagues Club’s Spirit of the Red V Museum on Thursday, 26 June at 2:00pm.
Written by Karen Johnson – Brian’s high school sweetheart and wife of 37 years – the book details Brian’s diagnosis of Younger Onset Dementia, suspected CTE, in 2010 and the challenges that he and his close ones faced up until his death in 2016.
Karen’s intermittent journal in the form of letters to her husband and others gives readers an insight into declining cognition and the challenges faced by day-to-day carers.
Hailing from Dapto, Johnson began his first-grade career with the St George Dragons in 1979 helping lead the side to a Grand Final win over Canterbury later in the year.
He would go on to make 147 appearances in the Red V from 1979 to 1985 before linking up with English powerhouse Warrington where he played a further 102 games scoring 48 tries.
Johnson took up coaching following his retirement and would spend seven seasons at the helm for Warrington becoming the second winningest coach in the club’s history.
