As maintenance director at Harbor Tower Village, Steve Swankie grew accustomed to a familiar face every morning as he walked through the front door.

Harold Johnson arose early each day and started his morning at the same table and in the same chair in the dining area. He’d typically greet Swankie with a smile and offbeat remark as early as 7 a.m.

“He’d sit right there and say, ‘Steve, you’re late!’ Or ‘You’re early!’” Swankie said.

Swankie and others at Harbor Tower Village are still coming to grips with the reality that Johnson will no longer be sharing his wit, warm smile and vivid memories of Pearl Harbor.

Johnson died Friday, Oct. 14, at age 92 at the Oak Harbor retirement community that he called home for the past seven years.

JOHNSON was planning to attend the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December.

“He was really looking forward to going to Hawaii,” said Sheena Taylor, resident care director at Harbor Tower Village.

“It’s too bad. He just didn’t quite get to the finish line,” said Wil Shellenberger, president of the PBY Memorial Foundation.

A group of 15 family members, including two great-grandchildren from Sweden, are still planning to attend the event in his honor, said Jeannett Wendell, Johnson’s daughter who lives in Coupeville.

A memorial service is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Life Church on Regatta Drive in Oak Harbor.

JOHNSON, WHO went by “Hal,” was a longtime Oak Harbor resident and father of three who served in the Navy during World War II and later in the Korean conflict as a naval reserve.

He was barely 17 when he joined the Navy in April of 1941 and was aboard the USS Oklahoma on Battleship Row when the destroyer was one of the first ships struck by torpedoes the fateful morning of Dec. 7.

He was able to jump into the water before the ship capsized and swam away from a burning oil slick on the water’s surface until he was rescued. The ship lost 429 of its crew.

Described in a headline of one military publication last year as the “Luckiest veteran alive,” Johnson also survived the icy waters near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands in January 1943 after he and his shipmates abandoned the USS Worden after it ran aground. Fourteen sailors lost their lives during that incident.

“Too long we took these guys for granted and didn’t look at their roles in history,” said Will Stein, historian at the PBY-Naval Air Museum in Oak Harbor. “And it wasn’t just Pearl Harbor. He was on another boat that sank a year later.

“If I would have seen Harold Johnson getting on my ship after that, I might’ve requested a transfer.”

AT HARBOR Tower Village, Johnson was a resident celebrity of sorts, drawing visits by TV news crews or documentary filmmakers about once a year.

“He brought such an awareness to Pearl Harbor survivors,” said Hazel Welliver, executive director at the retirement community.

Arielle Corrin, program director at Harbor Tower Village, said Johnson felt it was important to share his memories in honor of those who didn’t survive.

“I think one would say going through Pearl Harbor and having the recognition he had as one of the remaining survivors, that it was an honor, but I think it was more of a burden to have to retell the worst day of your life all the time to kids and to adults,” Corrin said. “And I think he did it graciously and with the responsibility of knowing that because he survived that, because he had endured it, it was sort of an honor to his comrades to be able to share the story as a survivor.

“To think that one day of 92 years, not that it has to define your life, but it did define his life so much. And that’s how people remember Hal as a Pearl Harbor survivor, not the other accomplishments in life that he did.”

During a time when Pearl Harbor survivors have dipped to under 2,000, Johnson was one of the last still living in North Puget Sound.

He was visible in the community, participating in parades and other veteran events, and always willing to share stories with those who asked.

“Arielle always said it best,” Swankie said. “Pearl Harbor was always black and white to us because it’s in the text books and stuff. He actually made it come to life.”

AT THE retirement community, Johnson also was known for his skills while playing Wii bowling, his sense of humor, kind heart and how he’d light up around children.

“He’s going to be missed,” housekeeper Pam Gaimari said.

“He was really involved in the community,” Taylor said. “He was a part of everything here. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. We could always go to him for his opinion. He was really open and giving.”

Johnson and his wife Viva, who died in 2005, raised two sons and a daughter in Oak Harbor. All three still live on Whidbey Island. Ron Johnson resides in Coupeville and Edward Johnson in Oak Harbor.

“From an early age, we knew about Pearl Harbor,” said Wendell, who made the trip with her dad to Hawaii on several occasions. “It wasn’t something he talked about all the time, but there were times when other family members would come over and somebody would ask him questions and he would bring out a book that had pictures from when he was in the Navy. He would talk about it and answer questions.

“After he was done, I just remember him looking at that book for an hour and he wasn’t talking to anybody. He was just looking at the book, reminiscing.”

Wendell said while looking through her dad’s belongings, items that he possessed while aboard the USS Oklahoma were found. They were all lost after the ship capsized in 1941, but divers later found Johnson’s pocket knife, watch and wallet.

Those items will be donated to a museum at Pearl Harbor, Wendell said.

“We opened up his wallet and found his driver’s permit,” she said.

Harbor Tower Village will be taking a bus, two if necessary, to Johnson’s memorial service, Welliver said.

He was well respected and well liked by staff and residents, Welliver said.

He also had an ornery side, his daughter said.

“We kind of feel like we’re a family here because we’re small enough,” Welliver said. “They know each other and look forward to seeing each other at meals. They watch out for each other. And he was such a visible guy because of his career.”

And that’s part of what makes his absence that much more difficult, particularly at the start of the day.

“That was his spot,” Swankie said, pointing to a chair where Johnson ate breakfast.

“And you didn’t move that table one inch,” Welliver said with a smile.