Soft-Spoken In Life

My uncle, Jim Richards was a gentle man with a quiet, sweet spirit. He was always soft-spoken, and those who knew him were likely to say that he was a big teddy bear. Nevertheless, he was also a strong man with a fierce sense of responsibility for his family. While he was soft-spoken in life, I know he would have fought to the death, anyone who would have been stupid enough to threaten any part of his family. He was a family man to the end. Uncle Jim lost his dad when he was very young, just nine years old, as a matter of fact, but that didn’t stop him from fulfilling his self-imposed duties to his family, and he never stopped fulfilling those duties.

Uncle Jim was also a friend to all. I don’t think he ever met someone who didn’t become his friend before long. His friends at school all remembered him fondly and always had kind words to say about the man who helped them out on more than one occasion, even making sure they got home safely from a party in which they over indulged. Uncle Jim cared about people, and he was always willing to give 110% to help them out. To say that he would give the shirt off his back, was not an exaggeration, because he most definitely would do just that.

Uncle Jim was a sports fan. He played sports in high school and never lost his love of the game. Whenever my aunt, Sandy Pattan and I went out to their house for visits, you could be sure that you would find Uncle Jim watching a football game. He was a die-hard Broncos fan, and boy, you had better not damage his Broncos shirt. One time, when he had to be rushed to the hospital, the emergency personnel cut his Broncos shirt off of him to give him medical attention. The fact that they saved his life did little to win them points when he found out that they had sliced his prized shirt off of him. He said that there was nothing wrong with that shirt, and it didn’t matter that his family would gladly buy him another one. He wanted his shirt back. I suppose he eventually forgave the EMTs, but I’m sure the family knew to “try to make sure” that didn’t happen ever again. While the situation was very serious, it also had a bit of a funny undertone…once he was ok, that is. Today would have been Uncle Jim’s 88th birthday and it’s his first in Heaven. Happy birthday in Heaven, Uncle Jim. We love and miss you very much.