Saturday, April 28, 2007

Jim

Today was the memorial service for our good friend and former neighbor, Jim. It was a beautiful day and so a good day for remembering and celebrating his life. He was our next door neighbor for about 30 years, so we knew him well. He was a great guy. A true friend. Jim was cremated and his remains were put into a Columbarium in the courtyard of the church. It's new and he's one of the first ones to be put there. After the service we were all invited to attend a luncheon and hopefully folks would tell of some experiences with Jim. I thought about it and decided I'd like to talk about him. First of all I told how one day Helen announced she was going to have a baby, her third. Then about three months later I discovered I was also going to have a baby, my fifth! The only explanation I could come up with was that Helen must have been contagious! Well now, this may sound like a story between Helen and me but just remember Jim and Jerry had something to do with it too! Then I told how Jim always liked to be a part of any happening. One year we had a birthday party for Jerry's mother right on her birthday, which happened to be Dec. 25. Our whole large family was invited to our house and Jim as always offered to be of any help to us. We took him up on his offer...we planned a big surprise! I went shopping for presents for all the kids, 12 and under, all grandchildren and great grandchildren of Jerry's mother. We wrapped them up and put them into a very large bag. In the afternoon we were all sitting and visiting in the living room, when all of a sudden...in comes Santa Claus with a very large pack slung over his back! The first thing he did was go to Grandma and give her a kiss on the forehead! Then he began giving out gifts to all the kids! Were they happy and excited! Not one was left out! Thank goodness! Of course Santa Claus was Jim. This day is still talked about in the family. Betty said she always wondered her whole life if Santa Claus was real and now she knew, yes, he's real! This is a wonderful memory we have of Jim and how he loved to have fun and to be right in the middle of it all! We have lots more memories of Jim but this was all the time I felt I should take up. He was a wonderful person, friend, and neighbor!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember that day! It was a wonderful surprise for all the kids and Jim did a wonderful job of playing Santa!