Sue Johnson’s students say she is the best!
By Joan Janzen
Sue Johnson has been a familiar face at the Alsask Gopher Dip Pool for many years. She has taught three generations of kids how to swim, and they have come from everywhere! As well as kids from Alsask, others came from Kindersley, Coleville, Kerrobert, Consort, Compeer, Altario, Cereal, Youngstown, Oyen, Burstall, Buffalo, Eatonia, Leader and Eston.
“I’m teaching the third generation of kids,” Sue said. “Everybody says you can’t quit until my kids are done.” Nevertheless, on September 14, Sue officially retired, and everyone was taking photos to mark the last day of classes with Sue.
But Sue’s first days at the Alsask pool began in 1974 when she was 16 years of age. Her family moved to Alsask in 1973, where her dad trained military staff at the base. The pool had been built in 1968 and was part of Alsask Canadian Forces Base. It was open all year round, and Sue taught swimming lessons during the summer.
“When the town took over the pool in 1987, they didn’t have anybody to take over the pool, so I programmed into it,” Sue explained. And the rest is history.
During the ensuing years, the pool had about 120 kids registered in their spring set. “We would go weekends for five weeks with lessons pretty much every day. We would start at the beginning of April and be done by the end of May. Spring lessons were really popular, and we had summer lessons as well,” Sue explained. “July is usually a lot of out-of-town people; August is more local people cause they’re around for harvest.”
They also taught private lessons in order to accommodate people’s schedules. “We’re booked solid with private lessons until we close, and we do group lessons as well,” she said.
“We get a lot of little ones because we have a no-nonsense approach here,” she said. “I always believed you earned your level, and I have followed that belief through the decades and engrained that into my staff. My job was to teach kids how to swim, to possibly save their own life or someone else’s.” And her students have done exactly that!
Throughout the years, Sue has heard amazing stories from some of her former students. One of her students who had become a lifeguard said he pulled an unconscious woman off the bottom of a pool in the United States and rolled her up in front of the lifeguards who hadn’t noticed her. In fact, he saved her life as she was resuscitated!
Another young man told Sue it was because of the swimming lessons he had taken from her that enabled him to save his best friend’s life at the lake. He said he would never have been able to live with himself if he had to watch him drown.
“Two beautiful stories of how learning to swim can and does make a difference,” Sue noted.
And what does Sue consider the most rewarding part of her years spent at the Alsask pool? She answered, “I loved watching the progress of the kids; how excited they were when they figured out a new thing. Their eyes just light up, and they’re like “Watch me! Watch me! I can do this!” She said she also loved watching the higher-level swimming. “It’s amazing to watch how good they are.”
While Sue has been watching her students, her students (both past and present) have been watching her, and they are very appreciative of her dedication and care. Here are some of their comments ...
“You truly have made your mark and will forever go down as the best swim instructor out there! I wouldn’t be the swimmer I am without you! Also, your whistle might still be burned into my ear even after all these years!”
Another mom said, “We went swimming one day in Oyen, and my son decided he wanted to be dunked to the bottom of the pool to get rings. Another mom said, ‘Oh he must take lessons in Alsask to be doing that at his age’.”
A past student said, “The best decision my mom ever made was bringing us to Alsask for swimming lessons. I am so thankful to you for turning me into the confident swimmer I am today.”
A 73-year-old woman diagnosed with Parkinson’s and osteoporosis arthritis said, “You always encouraged me to push myself to be a little more than I thought I could.”
One sincere and slightly humorous comment: “Sue, you are the best! You helped shape my love of the water by making lessons fun, working hard, and slightly scaring the crap out of me.”
The RM of Milton said, “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough!”
After all her years of dedication, Sue said she will miss the pool, the parents and especially all the children she has become so attached to over the years. But she is looking forward to having next summer off!