Honored to know such a man

Dick and Jim in Jim's "resto-rod."
(Courtesy photo)

[Click to enlarge]

Besides all that, when politics come up, neither of us gets mad so it is best for both to simply avoid the subject and talk of more interesting things like hot rods and airplanes!

In the nomadic life that is a military career, one can end up living in the most interesting places. Starting the decade of the '70s Uncle Sam decreed that I move my family to Castle AFB in the center of the San Joaquin Valley, Calif.

For this Nebraska farm kid, the move was a lot like coming home. We purchased a home in nearby Merced. My next-door neighbor was a farmer; he raised rice, some 800 acres of it! The ex-Marine (yeah I know, there are no ex-Marines, only "former-Marines") across the street grew irrigated food grade corn for Frito-O-Lay. Down at the end of the cul-de-sac lived a lady and her three children whose husband, a former B-52 instructor pilot, was off flying B-66s over North Vietnam. He never came home. He was last seen alive in the cockpit just prior to his crewman ejecting from the stricken aircraft. That lieutenant colonel navigator was the gent whose evasion and eventual rescue was made famous in the movie "Bat 21." My neighbor simply went MIA and that status is unchanged today so far as I know.

Through church, I met a young native who told me that he raised almonds. Curious, one afternoon, I drove to his farm to watch the nut harvest. I found Jim up a tree swinging a rubber mallet about the size of a sledge hammer hitting each branch of the tree to vibrate the ripe nuts off. Then his wife, Diane, and whichever of the kids that were available followed along with rakes and moved nuts out into the open lanes between the rows of trees. Then the process was to windrow those nuts with a miniature side-delivery rake and pick them up into wagons with another tractor mounted machine. Talk about work!

Farming was part-time for Jim who worked full time for Merced County, assuring accuracy in weights and measures. Dairy was big in Merced County and milk was sold by carefully calibrated depths in milk tanks at each dairy. Jim also checked the accuracy of the retail pumps dispensing gasoline. The job paid OK but Jim seemed more interested in welding and "piddling" in his farm shop.

My job at the time was teaching pilots to fly KC-135 tankers. I flew my student crews two and three times a week and had ample time off. The duty seems like a vacation after having spent about half of the past three years flying missions over Laos, Thailand, South Vietnam and on occasion even going North!

I'd learned to weld with an AC stick welder at home and in high school. Intrigued with the process and having the time to spare I signed up for a night class at Merced Community College. I learned MIG, TIG and acetylene welding techniques along with improving my skill at stick welding. Jim was intrigued but made fun of my "college" schooling when all one had to do was "move the stick a little faster when welding thin metal."

Our friendship developed even though early on Diane stated "We are hesitant to make friends with base people because if you get close and they leave it hurts!" It turned out that we had been married within a few months of each other, were about the same age and each of us had three children, same sex and nearly same age. Church friendships do that! We got close and sure enough after three years we left.

You never know how you influence people. Jim had graduated from high school in Merced and attended some Junior College before marrying Diane and getting on with life. Along the way I suggested that if he was bored with his job he could take night classes, get a degree and move into greater challenges.

Leaving one of the best jobs in the Air Force, I was sent to the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio to earn a master's degree in systems engineering. Next thing I hear is that Jim has quit his job and is back in college full time. In time he earned his bachelor's degree and then a master's in industrial arts. Then he hired on as an instructor at Merced Community College to teach my old welding class. "Yeah just move the stick a little faster! You bet. Now retired from teaching, he sits on the college board of trustees.

Some years later Jim took a sabbatical and came back to Nebraska to "study farming practices" which, interpreted, meant that he came to help me in corn harvest. He did it his way, too, riding his bicycle all the way from California to McCook. I found him to be a quick study! He ran the combine, drove the grain cart, drove trucks and even swapped out a truck transmission that failed. We laughed a lot! He was a great hand and I was able to write him a great assessment to satisfy the sabbatical requirements!

Jim and Diane's children are all successful in life. Daughter Rochelle is head of the nursing school at Merced College. Son Josh trained in nuclear power in the Navy and now manages a department of OG&E in San Francisco. Youngest daughter Lori is County Property Manager and lives in Auburn, California. A success story -- you bet!

Sadly all is not perfect in paradise. Jim's Diane has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and is slowly deteriorating. At the moment Jim is able to care for her at home. He has learned to cook and hired a housekeeper to keep things in order. Friends, their children and her sister all help where they can but Jim says it is "lonely"!

Hence the "resto-rod" project. Jim and I found the '27 T body in John Hubert's back yard and I hauled it to California. He preserved the three bullet holes. The "Baby Hemi" engine came from a '55 Dodge abandoned in the high Sierras. The Model A frame and Jaguar rear-end were swap meet treasures. The chance to build the hot rod scratches a California high school kid's itch for Jim. Most importantly, though, it allows him to stay home, work in his garage/shop and tend to the love of his life, the mother of his children, in her hour of need. I am honored to know such a man!

That is the way I see it.