If you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I have posted items about people who I love but who are no longer with us. Jim is Janie’s younger brother. They were close in age — only 13 months apart. Unfortunately, Jim was a Covid casualty.
I don’t need to repeat his obituary. You can see it here. But I have known Jim nearly as long as I’ve known Janie. He was actually still in high school when I met him. One of my special memories was during the Viet Nam war. I was a pacifist. He had joined the Navy. It was a very polarized time for those opposed to the war and those who felt a duty join up. Jim was one of the people who wrote a letter to the Draft Board for me in support of my application for conscientious objector status.
Over the years, we spent a lot of time with Jim and Paulette, whenever we went to Yakima. We often stayed with them during our visits, and especially at the time of the Yakima Fair. Jim was interested in my ballooning activities and he and I (and Uncle Bob) took our first rides in a powered parachute together. He later bought one and we and a great experience in Palouse flying the balloon and parachute together. (I’ve posted it before, but here is a link to Uncle Bob’s video of the event.) Jim and his family were horse people. I knew nothing about horses, but it was fascinating to experience their involvement.
Jim was a gentle soul. Yet he had a couple of curious incidents. Once, when we were at his property in Selah, he was frustrated by his neighbors chickens who kept wandering into his field. He got out a pellet gun, intending to scare off one of the birds. He fired once into the dirt in front of the chicken, but the chicken fell over, apparently from a ricochet. Jim stood there for a minute, rather surprised and then simply said “Oops!”
Jim had a long career as a firefighter, but he had to work very hard to become a permanent member of the department. He was very modest about his contributions, but every once in awhile, we got a glimpse into what it must be like to crawl into a pitch black building, with fire a few feet away, in search of possible victims who might not even be there. Based on my association with Jim, I never begrudged the fact that firefighters have blocks of time off and blocks of boredom in the station, because they are willing to go into the building to be sure everyone else gets out.
