Remembering Jim

What can you possibly say when you're getting ready to start your day just like any other and you get the news that a dear friend has been killed early that morning? I'm sure as Jim Nisser got ready to ride his bicycle into work at the Minnekahda Club, just as he did every early morning for 46 years, he had no idea that this was his last day here. Jim was not only hit by a car, but the driver had the audacity to drag him around a bit and then flee the scene. I know we all have to go sometime, and for Jim it's a bit fitting that he ends his life on the bike that he rode everywhere, but this was not the way for this dear man to go.

Jim was 65 years old, but he sure didn't look it. He didn't act it either--he was forever young. At my church, Jim was there before everyone and left after everyone, always the person to clean up and always did so with a joke and a smile. I never heard Jim complain about anything. He was always so generous with a kind word or a helping hand, and often remembered the kids' birthdays with a little gift. A lover of cars just like Sullivan, sometimes he'd show up with a car from his collection for Sully just because.

I remember when the nursery school was just starting up at the church and they needed to do a fundraiser party to get things going. Sullivan was attending, so I chipped in to help. It was my duty to make and serve sno-cones, and this was not an easy task for one person! Before I knew it, Jim was by my side and we were laughing and having a great time. He had nothing to do with the preschool at all, but there he was.

Church will feel very empty now without Jim, I have to say. I think many of us will feel an empty spot in our hearts. The world needs more people like Jim, that's for sure. Cory had taken this photo of him not long ago, and our friend Rosemarie said the most poignant thing... she was glad to see this last picture of Jim, because it was a rare thing to see him sitting and relaxing with a cup of coffee...he was usually serving everyone else.