I don't remember the year Jimmy died. It might have been the summer before or after 7th grade. We sat by each other in art class, I think. He was a funny little boy. He was the first person my age that had died. It really shook my world, but in a positive way. I became a Christian that year because of him.
I grew up in the same church as Jimmy, so I knew him and his family very well. He was a sweet kid, and I too was very shaken when he died. He was our age...I remember thinking how could this happen? I remember going to church camp with him and I remember going to his house and visiting his mother when he died..and seeing the devastated look on her face and the hurt. I was just a kid too, and certainly never in a million years thought I would one day have that same look on my face...and know that same hurt. I told his family, Debbie, about the influence that he had on you to become a Christian, and his family was moved to tears to hear that he is still remembered......Vicky Alston Fairey
Who didn't like cute Jimmy Dodson? Throughout all these years, I can still see him getting off the school bus to walk to his house that last day for summer vacation. Etched in my brain, like a movie playing, is the memory of him getting off the bus with a happy smile walking towards his house. One night, in a dream, the same memory played again, except that time he looked back at me on the bus and waved. I waved back to him. It seemed SO real. I'm not sure now if that ever really did happen or if it was because I had always had a deep need to say goodbye to him. Either way, I never had the dream again. Rest in peace, Jimmy. I have never forgotten you.
Debbie Holland (Phillips)
I don't remember the year Jimmy died. It might have been the summer before or after 7th grade. We sat by each other in art class, I think. He was a funny little boy. He was the first person my age that had died. It really shook my world, but in a positive way. I became a Christian that year because of him.Vicky Alston (Fairey)
I grew up in the same church as Jimmy, so I knew him and his family very well. He was a sweet kid, and I too was very shaken when he died. He was our age...I remember thinking how could this happen? I remember going to church camp with him and I remember going to his house and visiting his mother when he died..and seeing the devastated look on her face and the hurt. I was just a kid too, and certainly never in a million years thought I would one day have that same look on my face...and know that same hurt. I told his family, Debbie, about the influence that he had on you to become a Christian, and his family was moved to tears to hear that he is still remembered......Vicky Alston FaireyJane Hutchison (Cooper)
Who didn't like cute Jimmy Dodson? Throughout all these years, I can still see him getting off the school bus to walk to his house that last day for summer vacation. Etched in my brain, like a movie playing, is the memory of him getting off the bus with a happy smile walking towards his house. One night, in a dream, the same memory played again, except that time he looked back at me on the bus and waved. I waved back to him. It seemed SO real. I'm not sure now if that ever really did happen or if it was because I had always had a deep need to say goodbye to him. Either way, I never had the dream again. Rest in peace, Jimmy. I have never forgotten you.