I met Jim in about 1974 or 75 when working at Bell Labs in Columbus, OH. At work I recall him as a brilliant engineer. We worked on various systems that used UNIX in the early days to support the Bell System. But Jim was always much more than just a brilliant engineer. He went after any project with gusto.
I recall going out to his house in Ohio and helping with landscaping and meeting Mary Jo and later his wonderful family as they were born.
In 1989 Jim and I went flying from NJ (where we had relocated) to pick up one of my friends (David Johnson) and one of our mutual friends from Columbus (Gary Crockett) for a wilderness canoe trip in Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.
Dale DeJager, David Johnson, Gary Crockett, and Jim
Traveling to and from Quetico via pontoon plane
We flew into a small airport and landed only to be told that the airport was going to be closed for a few weeks for resurfacing, so we had to fly to a different airport. The trip was a great one that we all enjoyed,
Our families also canoed in the Pine Barrens.
In 1991 Jim flew me, my daughter, Julie, and his daughters out to my friend’s cabin in Michigan for a weekend canoe trip down the Manistee river.
We repeated this trip in 1992, taking my son, Chris, along as well. Canoeing with our children and staying in the cabin is still a special memory for me.
~Dale DeJager
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