T h e C rys ta l Va l l e y E c h o Vol. 23 Issue No. 1
Fiercely Independent and Local Since 2003
March, 2026
Newsstands, Magic Castles, and Community: The Lasting Legacy of Ken Johnson
By: The Crystal Valley Echo Staff
Born March 13, 1933, in Grand Junction, Colorado Kenneth E. Johnson was a titanic fixture of local journalism on the Western Slope until he passed away at the age of 92 in Massachusetts on April 20th, 2025. Beginning his career as a paper delivery boy in Grand Junction, at the age of 16 he began working for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in their mail room, Ken would go on to climb the journalism ladder at The Sentinel until he eventually rose to the position of publisher in 1970 when then-publisher Preston Walker died of a heart attack while on a rafting trip. Johnson is best remembered in the history of the Grand Junction Sentinel for a stressful April night in 1974 when the press building of the Sentinel burned to the ground while he attended a series of meetings in Salt Lake City. Johnson spent the entire night on the phone, ensuring the paper would be printed in Glenwood Springs and not miss its daily deadlines. Over the course of that night, he also arranged the purchase of a new printing press, replacement newsprint and secured a plan for a new press office and printing headquarters for the Sentinel. The paper never missed its daily publication. Johnson was at his heart a true newsman, fiercely dedicated to both the craft of journalism and his deep love of his home, Colorado’s Western Slope. He attended Mesa College (now Colorado Mesa University) in Grand Junction, covering tuition with paychecks from National Guard duty, and eventually transferred to The University of Colorado to pursue a degree in marketing. He recalled his college years at CU as a “painful chore” and upon his return to Grand Junction he secured his position with The Sentinel as Bureau Chief in Rifle. He would eventually also serve as President of the Colorado Press Association in 1968 and held a lifelong dedication to the craft of journalism. Johnson would remain publisher of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel until 1979, when he sold the paper to Cox Enterprises. He became nationally recognized at this time for giving over $1 million in bonuses to the entirety of the staff of the Sentinel upon its sale. Johnson was quoted in the Denver post at the time saying: “I’m laying money on the troops…they are my friends and they’ve been through good, bad, and otherwise. This is a chance to do something for them in a meaningful way.” Johnson would gift over 200 staffers at The Sentinel bonuses ranging from “two or three weeks’ pay” to several thousand dollars with the Denver Post reporting some personal gifts reaching upwards of $40,000. Johnson said that the gifts were a mark of gratitude to his employees for “helping build a solid newspaper, one that has at least a decent reputation.”
Former Redstone Castle Owner and Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Publisher Ken Johnson passed away at the age of 92 on April 20th, 2025. Photo Courtesy of Colorado Mesa University
In line with sale of the paper and his generous gifts of gratitude to his former staffers, Johnson echoed another historically generous titan of industry in the Western Slope and became the owner of John Cleveland Osgood’s Cleveholm Manor, known affectionately as The Redstone Castle in the Crystal Valley in 1976. When Johnson purchased the Castle, he had effectively “saved it from a wrecking ball” wrote Deb Strom in a previously published Vintage Valley article on the history of the Redstone Inn. By this time, the Castle had been sold at auction and locals recalled truckloads of valuables leaving the estate to be sold elsewhere by the previous owners. By 1982 Johnson had transformed the Castle from a building needing care and restoration to a world-class bed and breakfast and wedding venue. Johnson Continued Page 4...