I knew that Jim had passed away a few years ago from the notice in the paper.  In our early high school days, Jim and a group of us often got together outside of school.   On one occasion during the Fall, Jim took a group of us to the mountains for the day, and along the way, Jim took us to his grandmother's lake-front property on the Tahoe shores, where he donned a wet suit and swam in the extremely cold water of Tahoe.  None of us followed him into that icy water since we were ill prepared for swimming in winter, much less to have wet suits.  It seemed adventurous that day, but we felt safe with Jim driving us around as we randomly stopped at various ski areas for jaunts in the snow.  While I did not remain in contact with Jim after high school, my remembrances of him are those of a true friend, who was always very kind and who was a genuinely good person.

 

When I think of Jim, my thoughts include our friend, Kent Conrad, who didn't make it to his senior year.  Kent opened his home to many of us for parties. I remember his older brother being there, but I don't remember his parents ever being at home during the gatherings. His home was ideal, not only because his parents were never home, but  because he lived on a corner between Hughes Stadium and Sacramento City College.  Kent had so many kids showing up for his parties, the overflow of cars would be in the stadium parking lot.   Kids were in every room of the house, in and around the pool, sitting on the staircase, coming and going with music and dancing. These were happy times for which the kid in me still enjoys remembering.