Childhood Remembrances
Here are some remembrances that Jim shared with me about his childhood that may give a clue to how Jim became the kind and caring person he was.
Starting when Jim was about 6 or 7 he would go to the store for the elderly and handicapped people in his neighborhood to pick up a few groceries, medicine (or in one case, cigars). The shopkeeper would always kid Jim, you're too young to smoke cigars. Jim would make 5 or 10 cents per trip which he used to buy comic books or model car kits. He also liked to go to the movies on Saturday afternoon, his favorite star being Gene Autry because he played the guitar and sang. Jim also earned some money mowing lawns, raking leaves and shoveling snow from walks and driveways.
Jim was also very active in the YMCA swim meets (he kept all the ribbons he won) and even earned his lifeguard certificate at a young age although I don't think he ever became a lifeguard. But that training paid off when Jim saved a young child from drowning at the local pool. He said he saw the child on the bottom of the pool and dived in and pulled him out of the water so CPR could be administered.
Every year Jim would sell the most YMCA cookies so he could go to the summer camp where he liked riding horses and water skiing. This was an expensive camp and he couldn't have afforded it on his own.
He liked art and history in school. He was chosen to draw the Christmas mural at school and one of his paintings of a racecar won a spot in an exhibit of "Americana" that hung in the Taft Museum in Cincinnati, then went on tour in several countries. He painted a lot of pictures when he was a teen, but he gave most of them away. If someone liked something or needed something, he would give it to them if he could. I remember this incident of a homeless man that we always saw at the Pavillion shopping mall in Los Angeles. One day he was in tears because someone had stolen his bedding. Jim said to him don't worry we'll be right back. Then we went home and Jim found 2 army blankets and a pillow he had been saving and went back to the mall and gave the man the bedding. The homeless man always remembered Jim and at Christmas gave Jim a small gift. It's the little kindnesses in life that count and Jim learned that life lesson early.