TRIBUTES have been paid to a long-serving North Yorkshire lawyer and community volunteer who has died at the age of 93.

Pat Johnson, of Tollerton, was a practising lawyer for more than six decades, and was recognised by the Law Society in 2006 for his long service.

His funeral service was held at Alne Church last week, when friends and family gathered to pay their respects.

Mr Johnson’s son, Mark, read a tribute from his father’s friend, Bishop Graham Foley, which began with the words: “I have met many sinners in my long ministry; I have also met, I think, only two saints – one of them was Pat Johnson. He was a good man. His goodness shone through every area of his life.”

Pat spent most of his childhood in Durham and Brancepeth, where his father was a bank manager. His mother died leaving four children under the age of nine, so at six Pat went to boarding school.

He was a Kings Scholar at Durham School, read classics and law at Christ College Cambridge and in 1946 returned to finish qualifying as a solicitor by gaining a first in his law finals.

He continued to work one day a week at Cowling Swift & Kitchen until two years ago.

Pat had joined the Territorial Army so was called up before the outbreak of the Second Workd War and he served with The Durham Light Infantry.

After landing in France two days after D-Day, he fought his way into Germany and was seriously injured rescuing a soldier who had been shot returning from a recce of enemy lines.

Both in Durham and when the family moved to Tollerton 38 years ago, Pat was involved with the voluntary sector. His wife, Micky, said there were voluntary organisations across York and North Yorkshire that regularly benefited from his free legal advice. For nearly 50 years, he was treasurer of The Muscular Dystrophy Group, first in Durham, then York, and until the age of 91 he was a volunteer with Age Concern York, visiting housebound and low-income elderly people who wished to make a will or give a power of attorney.

Micky said he had a great passion for sport, particularly badminton, tennis, cricket, rugby and, above all, golf, which he played from the age of 12 to 92.

Pat and Micky were married for 56 years, and he is also survived by children Mark and Jo. Micky said: “He was, and still is an inspiration to so many people and a perfect example of ‘an active old age’. He may have been nearly 94 but he remained young to the end.”