Saturday, August 13, 2022
There are so many stories and so many things to write about Jim. Jim and Marilyn took me in when I arrived in West Liberty in January, 1982 as a Rotary Exchange student from Wellington, South Africa. Jim always reminded me of a big teddy bear and he had a character that matched that description. I arrived in the middle of the snowiest winters in 100 years and Jim and Marilyn made me welcome and comfortable. I would have frozen without them as I had never experienced snow before and was in no way prepared. Jim and Marilyn enabled me to attend the Close Up Foundation in Washington DC and he could never have known that 40 years later I would be myself taking students to have their Close Up experience in Washington DC and have done that for 17 years. I will always remember lunches sitting around the kitchen table in their house eating Louis Rich sliced turkey on white Wonder Bread! I was also able to travel to the Rotary International 1982 Convention in Dallas, Texas with the help of Jim and Marilyn. Since I left West Liberty at the end of 1982 I have kept in contact with Jim and Marilyn and I will miss Jim's quiet wisdom and gentle soul.
