James K. Aldridge

On February 7th 2012 James Kevin Aldridge drew his last breath on this earth, and has now joined his family, friends, dogs, and the other creatures he loved who passed before him. James was born May 1st 1957 in Brimfield Ohio, the youngest of five children born to Robert Gill and Beatrice Agnes Aldridge. Growing up in the late 50s and 60s provided him with the ideal childhood. Plenty of open spaces to play and explore, and a simple life so few can appreciate these days. Our oldest sister Pam was called 'PK' (or princess), next in line was our older brother Mick, who was often called 'knucklehead', and next was our sister Kathy who was called 'bubbles' which could have been due to her freckles or maybe because she always had a 'bubbly' personality. Because my brother and I were only 17 months apart in age they called us 'the boys' and were sometimes even dressed the same when we were younger. Jamie spent the first few years of his life living in Ohio where his parents were born and most of our relatives lived until our father was offered a better job in Florida in 1960. The family was treated to a week or two at a hotel on the beach until a suitable temporary home could be found while our new house was built in Clearwater. Jamie enjoyed his life in Florida as did the rest of the family and in 1967 before his father was transferred to Michigan we lived the last year right on the beach. The move to Michigan was easier on Jamie and me than our older siblings, some of who were in their final years of High School and the change from the beach life to rural America was a shock, but Jamie and I didn't mind it too much. We lived in a huge older farmhouse on 10 acres and took advantage of all it had to offer with summers spent exploring the woods and ponds, catching snakes and turtles, playing baseball, riding bikes, and just being boys in the late 60s. It was a time of the first moon landing, the racial unrest in Detroit, and the Tigers winning the World Series! In the winter we enjoyed sledding on the local hills or we'd skate or play hockey on a neighbor's pond. One of our favorite memories was when we got mini bikes for Christmas. Dad insisted we wear head protection so we took our Lions football helmets and spray painted then metallic gold. Jamie always did well in school and by his senior year in 1975 was able to finish early in January. In High School he excelled in writing and his teacher had him lined up with classes at a local university, but Jamie chose instead to join our parents when they made a move to upstate NY, a decision he would later wish he'd made with more thought. He found work quickly and was working in a wood shop where they made huge exposed beams for churches and buildings. His description of 'riding' the large saws and making the cuts on these giant beams always amazed me, especially at his age. By the spring of 1975 I came up from NYC where I'd been going to Art School and Jamie and I decided to go back to our old stomping grounds in Michigan, where we attended his graduation ceremony, and we would decide our future from there. I decided to move to Oregon and Jamie stayed in Michigan working for a time at our old High School as a custodian, and lived for a time with our older brother and his family at their farm outside of Grand Rapids before following my tracks back to NYC. He was able to share an apartment with my old roommate who got him a job at the New York Times until he was laid off and decided to catch a ride with a woman and her young daughter who wanted to move to Florida. They landed in St. Pete Beach and Jamie took a job at a beach front motel working days as a maintenance man, and caring for the little girl while her mother worked as a waitress at night. When his friend and her daughter decided to move on, Jamie stayed. This was probably one of the favorite periods in his life. He was in his early 20s, in great shape, and very handsome too. Working the several beach front hotels and units the company managed provided him with an unlimited supply of women who, visiting for a few days, always wanted a good looking local guy to show them around. I'm not saying my brother was a gigolo or anything close to it, but he did have his choice of women, and enjoyed every minute of it. Later he met a beautiful girl, Susan Brown, which I was fortunate enough to meet in 1980 while stopping through on a road trip, and she eventually talked him into moving her back to Brooklyn NY. Jamie stayed and worked at an antique dealer in mid town Manhattan refinishing furniture. Jamie devised a method of doing his work on the street to attract clients, which worked very well. He eventually moved to Staten Island with a new girlfriend Lisa, and she later brought him out to Hollywood California where she wanted to pursue an acting career. Jamie worked briefly for the movie industry before realizing that Lisa, and her Hollywood family, were not for him. This is when he began working for the moving industry, and rose quickly through the ranks to become a move coordinator, dealing with high dollar clients and cross country relocations. It was at this time that he moved in with Joan, whom he always spoke of often and with high regard. They shared a small guest cottage in Hollywood owned by some film editors who only used the main house for editing and work related issues, leaving Jamie as the caretaker. Jamie and Joan adopted a couple of dogs, and drove Volvo wagons with the back seats down to accommodate their four legged family. This was the other time in his life he would look back on later with both joy and sometimes regret. After he separated from Joan we started loosing contact with Jamie, sometimes weeks, and then it would be months. He'd moved to Arizona for a time, then to Texas where he met Sherrie and followed her to where her family lived in Alabama. Eventually he landed a job with the City of Cedar Bluff working for the water department, and started keeping in touch with the family more. He bought a small house and seemed to be getting along fine until, what he later explained as small town politics, forced him out of the job he loved. Then Jamie started coming up missing again, or not keeping in touch with the family. He always seemed to feel he wasn't good enough for the rest of us, and used to joke even as a kid that he was adopted. He stayed in Alabama for several years, working when he could, and surviving as best as he knew how. The economy was in the dirt, and my brother couldn't find his way out, despite several attempts by family to get him to relocate. He always made a few visits to see family like when we held a reunion in Ohio the summer of 1995, then when our father died in 1996, almost 15 years to the day of Jamie's passing. Later we all got together for our mothers 80th birthday in 2007 and it became obvious then that life was taking its toll on him. The summer of 2010 Jamie returned to Florida to visit and do some work for my brother Mick and later came to Tennessee to do the same for my Sister Pam. It was at this time that he complained of neck pain and other issues, and he was taken to a local clinic where they did tests and determined he would need further treatment for the cancer they discovered. When he returned to Alabama and the hospital was too far away for him to commute on a regular basis, we all decided to bring him out to Oregon to be with my wife and I while being treated. Jamie arrived here in September 2010 and soon he was under the care of the local Cancer Center, Mercy Hospital, my primary care doctor, ENT, and whoever else was needed. He stayed here on our property on Little River and quickly fell in love with the scenery, my wife Lisa, the house, and of course our two dogs, Rita and Rosie. He always had his privacy, staying in the small trailer on our 6 acres and we made him feel at home as best as we could. When he was healthy and feeling good he was such a great help, working with me to finish our home on the river, cut and split wood, and also helped me in town when I had business to do for my customers (all of whom grew to love him too) . This also was a time for him and I to get to know each other again, and living out where we do, I grew to appreciate his company and our time together. Not only was he the extra hand I always needed, but the brother from my past that I realized how much I missed. Jamie liked his privacy, but would join us for dinner every other night and was always willing to help us with the leftovers. We set him up with a TV and DVD player and Lisa would bring home stacks of movies from the library for him to watch. Jamie was always a dog lover, and our 'girls' were an instant hit with him. Rita the older shepherd would let him scratch her butt for hours, but it was our black lab Rosie who became his constant companion and would stay with him whenever he wanted her there, which was most of the time. He called her 'Poo Bear' and I know she gave him comfort at times when nothing else would work. Jamie quickly became a part of our little family enjoying his first Thanksgiving and Christmas with us in Oregon. Helping BBQ the turkey and make the fixings, hanging lights on the house and decorating the tree, and everything else that came with the holidays. The rest of the family always sent him packages at Christmas and he used to complain that he made out better than us. When the weather warmed and my work in town picked up Jamie was a big help getting things done faster than I could have on my own. On hot days we would come home, throw some beers in the cooler, and take the dogs down to the river to swim and wash off the grime from a hard days work. Being here Jamie experienced all the joys that made me love Oregon. Fish in the river, deer in the hills and fields, hawks, osprey and an occasional bald eagle soaring over our heads. We even discovered an otter in our swimming hole and later the evidence of a beaver in the area. During his time here Jamie met my good friends Jerry, and later Rob who brings his two boys here every summer for some guy time, and my brother was a part of that 15 year tradition. He was also able to meet Lisa's mother Sharon, step-dad Larry, and her son Joel, his wife Nicole and our new grandson Sawyer! In his life Jamie had many things he loved, his family, friends, dogs (and really any animal that he came across). And even though there were many women in his life, I know he always held a special place for two, the first was his High School sweetheart Mary Alice Masterson, and the second would be Joan whom he shared a life with in California. Jamie loved music, and he and I shared the same taste, even as we grew older. Through the years I'd make him CDs of artists I thought he'd like, and he would always approve. When we were younger we introduced each other to much of the same music we still enjoy today, but we were always still looking for something new. Jamie loved movies of all kinds and could watch something over and over again if it was good enough, but he did have his favorites, and one of those were the old ' Thin Man' films with William Powell and Myrrna Loy. He liked the way they played off each other and thought she was a doll, (even though she could have been his grandmother!) He also loved to read, and given his early talent in writing, I'm convinced he would have made a good author as well. Jamie, while staying with us, could read a novel a day especially if he was under the weather and couldn't do much more. Keeping him in books and movies was something my wife Lisa always took care of and Jamie was always so appreciative of. He was always concerned about being a burden to us, and despite our attempts to get him to move into our home, even in the dead of winter, Jamie wanted his privacy. When he finally received some back pay from SSD he decided he wanted a place of his own, and after looking at apartments and houses, we decided to move him into a nice motel in town with everything he needed and go from there. Even though he was away from us and the dogs, Jamie thrived in his new place, and was able to go where he wanted, when he wanted, and survive on his own. I only wish he could have had the time to enjoy his independence a little longer. I will forever be grateful to all the medical staff who helped Jamie, for the time we had together in the end, and everything he added to our lives. James is survived by his Mother Bea Aldridge in Auburn Hills Michigan, His sister Pam and husband Rick in Mountain City Tennessee, his brother Mick and wife Connie in Mt. Dora Florida, his sister Kathy and husband Tim also in Auburn Hill Michigan, and his brother David and wife Lisa in Glide Oregon. Jamie also had 8 nieces and nephews, and 10 grand nieces and nephews (with more on the way), and many more cousins and relatives who will miss him dearly. This one is for you little brother; I love you, and will never forget you
There is a young cowboy he lives on the range His horse and his cattle are is only companions He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons Waiting for summer, his pastures to change And as the moon rises he sits by his fire Thinking about women and glasses of beer And closing his eyes as the doggies retire He sings out a song which is soft but it's clear As if maybe someone could hear He says Goodnight you moonlight ladies Rockabye sweet baby James Deep green and blues are the colors I choose Won't you let me go down in my dreams And rockabye sweet baby James