CANADA Canada - Kathleen Johnston, 26, Saskatoon, SK, 20 Oct 1953

[TheArtfulDetective]

Kathleen Johnston



Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: October 20, 1953
Last Known Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Description:
Date of Birth: December 23, 1927
Age: 26 years
Race: White/Caucasian
Gender: Female
Height: 162 cm (5'4")
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Auburn
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Grace Johnston
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Clothing & Personal Items: Dark green suit with pinstripes, white nylon blouse, pea green coat with corded stripe, red oxford shoes, and a red purse.
Identifiers: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Johnston disappeared from downtown Saskatoon, SK on the afternoon of October 20, 1953. She had visited her mother and then left for her job at the Gem Café. She exited a city transit bus in the downtown area and has never been seen since. Johnston's whereabouts remain unknown.

Investigators:

1. Saskatoon Police Service: 306-975-8214
   [email protected]
   Case Number: 1953-378 / Reference Case#: 2005-134215
   
   
2. Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at Canadian Crime Stoppers Association
   
   
3. Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: [email protected]

The Doe Network: Case File 1852DFSK
SACP | Missing Persons Database
Canada's Missing | Case details

 

[dotr]

2021

Names and faces behind Saskatoon's 18 unsolved historic missing person files

The Saskatoon Police Service have 18 unsolved historic missing persons files.

thestarphoenix.com

Kathleen (Grace) Johnston. Photo appeared in the Oct. 26, 1953 edition of the StarPhoenix.
Name: Kathleen (Grace) Johnston, 26
Date missing: Oct. 20, 1953
What we know: The StarPhoenix reported in 1953 that Johnson had caught a “trolley bus” on Broadway to go to work at a downtown café. She had been working in Saskatoon for six weeks and was visiting her mother in Nutana. She did not arrive at work and has not been seen since.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

The interior of the Gem Cafe, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to add text to the images. Unknown date for the postcard, but it was prior to July 1, 1963, when zip codes began to be used in the USA.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

Above is an original Saskatoon Municipal Railway street car at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum, copied from a Wikipedia entry about Saskatoon Transit.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

I'm assuming her mother was the person who provided details of what Kathleen was wearing when she left her home. Depending on which website you visit, there seems to be conflicting reports of whether she was last seen exiting or entering the "trolley bus". If someone witnessed her enter the bus, it was either a family member, a neighbor or someone acquainted with her. It seems a little odd that someone would take note of Kathleen exiting the bus, assuming it did not stop in front of the Gem Café, unless it was the bus driver. I wonder what the walking distance was between her stop and the café. It seems a bit ominous that she was seen exiting the bus, and never made it to work. I wonder what the possibility is that she walked away from her life? She had been working for six weeks at the café. Could she have met a "handsome stranger" and was lured away? She disappeared on a busy street in the middle of the afternoon. If the sidewalks were jammed with people, I suppose someone could've threatened her with a weapon and forced her to go somewhere without crying out. Odd that there's nothing provided about her background, her history. She was dressed very smartly to go to work at a café, so I'm also assuming she kept her uniform at work. Matching coat and jacket, with a matching bag and shoes, was common for the time, but it says she cared about how she looked outside of work. No mention of jewelry or her hat. She would've been wearing something on her head, as covering your head in the fifties was de rigueur.

So few details to go on, other than what she was wearing, and where she was alleged to be going.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

Downtown Saskatoon in the 1950s. Unknown what streets are shown.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

My apologies for my random, rambling posts today. I've been working overtime for the last four days, i.e. 12 hour work days. That's my excuse, LOL.

I hope Kathleen found someone to love, and walked away from her life, and had a long, happy life. That, rather than being the victim of crime. Perhaps it was a person her family didn't approve of. When I searched the LDS genealogy website, I came across a lot of Kathleen Johnstons, but none that were her I believe. Many were emigrants from and to Ireland. I wonder if Kathleen was Irish and Catholic or Irish and Protestant. Perhaps she found someone who was Protestant? Catholic? Or another religious affiliation that her family disapproved of? Or even the "wrong" gender or the "wrong" race? It's all speculation of course.

I posted the photo of the trolley bus because I noted how open the windows are. Anyone could have seen her from the bus and merely followed it until she got off. She may have been the victim of an opportunist, or someone who noticed her coming and going to work. Six weeks is long enough to notice someone and learn their schedule.

Her glamour shot is very well done. She looks gorgeous, like a Hollywood starlet. The photo in the newspaper is more down to earth and Girl Next Door. I would guess that's mostly how she looked in her daily life.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

The Gem Café is no longer in existence (?) However, the Gem Café LTD is. I haven't been able to find it's original location as of yet, so I'm guessing. Kathleen's mother's house was reportedly on the 700 block of Melrose Avenue.

700 Melrose Ave to Downtown Saskatoon

Just a guess, but the trolley bus ride would've taken about 13, 14 minutes. Still working on where she got off the bus, and where the café was.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

Call me paranoid, but I note the route crosses the South Saskatchewan River. I don't believe trolley cars had glass on their windows? Not that I think she fell or jumped, because someone would've surely seen and would've reported it. Still makes me wonder. Mainly because of how many missing people seem to end up in water, and for no apparent reason.

I made an error as to the route. The trolley bus would've taken the Victoria or the Traffic Bridge, not the Broadway Avenue Bridge. An early photo, but I think I see where the trolley lines would've connected to the bridge.
File:Victoria Bridge in Nutana, Saskatoon.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

An obvious question would be, who saw Kathleen get off the trolley bus? Was it the trolley bus driver? Was he interviewed the day after her family realized she was missing? Or did he come forward after reading the paper five days after her disappearance? How sure could he have been that he saw her get off on the day she disappeared, and not the day before, or the week before? October 20th, 1953 was a Tuesday. Could he have seen her on Monday and been mistaken as to the days? And of course, why would anyone else have noticed her getting off the bus? As I said previously, unless the trolley bus stopped in front of the café, who would've known her to have taken notice of her? Perhaps some of the shopkeepers? A co-worker? If it was a co-worker, how could they have lost her in the crowd? Was it someone who regularly rode the trolley bus and remembered her? Just speculative ramblings.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

Above is the Victoria Bridge, from 1907. I thought it was a cute picture with the trolley cars going over it. I tried to upload a photo of the same bridge from the 1940s, but I was unsuccessful.

 

[spartanx]

beautiful girl we will probably never know what happened to her... poor young girl..
rest in peace

 

[spartanx]

she would be almost 98 if she were still alive...I'm inclined to think that a 26 year old who disappeared off a downtown street in the middle of the afternoon in 1953 probably did it on purpose...from what I learned in 1953 the CPR train station was still downtown and Canada wouldn't introduce social security numbers until 1964...it would have been easy enough to just walk right past her place of work, hop on a train and start a new life under a different name in a far away city...it's so heartbreaking...to have never been found...to be missing for almost 73 years...everyone who knew her has died, its impossible to get any new information...very sad...3 years since last post...

 

[dotr]

12 long-term missing person cases Saskatoon police still hope to solve

As part of its push to find leads in its long-term investigations, Saskatoon Police Service has shared information about 12 of the cases.

www.ctvnews.ca

2021

Missing since: Oct. 20, 1953
Date of birth: Dec. 23, 1927 (93)
On Oct. 20, 1953, Grace Johnston went missing in downtown Saskatoon. She exited a city bus on her way to work at the Gem Cafe in the downtown area after visiting her mother.

Johnston was wearing a dark green suit with pinstripes, white nylon blouse, pea-green coat with corded stripe, red oxford shoes, and was carrying a red purse'

 

[dotr]

Added: 5-5-2006; Last Updated: 07-07-2025 - By: kb

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=1852DFSK

1852DFSK - Kathleen Grace Johnston​

Name: Kathleen Grace Johnston
Nickname/Alias: Grace
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: October 20, 1953
Location Last Seen: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Physical Description​

Date of Birth: December 23, 1927
Age: 26 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 162 cm (5'4")
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Auburn
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers​

Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Dark green suit with pinstripes, white nylon blouse, pea green coat with corded stripe, red oxford shoes, and a red purse.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance​

After visiting her mother, Grace Johnston took a city transit bus to work at the Gem Cafe in downtown Saskatoon at approximately 14:15 on the 20th of October, 1953. She was last seen at approximately 2:15 p.m. on the 20th of October, 1953.

 

[annpats]

It's just a shame there are no more details, even little ones can sometimes lead you in a new direction.

She'd only been working at the cafe for 6 weeks. I wonder where she worked before that?

I wonder if it was a planned disappearance and she was visiting her mother for the last time. Perhaps they had a tricky relationship. She stopped by to she her, and her mother was less than cordial, so that cemented her decision to leave?

If she did leave that afternoon, what public transport options were there to get out of the city? Any trains later that day? And to where?
Or could she have got a bus to another city?