Sunday, May 24, 2020
//s3.amazonaws.com/skins.funeraltechweb.com/tribute-gestures/Candle.png
I am so sorry to hear about Jim Bob's home-going. He will be truly missed. Some people leave a very bright spot in your life - Jim Bob was one of those people.
In the early 60s, my father was pastor of Northside Baptist Church. I had heard of Jim Bob from my friends at Abernathy High (Roland Murray and Larry Northcutt). Jim Bob was a member of First Baptist Church and I had a lot of high school friends that were members of that church. I worked in the meat market at Harold's Supermarket in the summer of 62. I was supposed to work on week-ends during the 62/63 school year, but they needed someone that could work more hours. Somehow, Jim Bob heard about me and offered me a week-end job at the new Smith's Thriftway Supermarket (working in the meat market). I think the going pay was $0.65/hr. Jim Bob asked me what I was making in my previous job. I told him $0.75/hr and he said that is what he would pay me. At that point, I knew that Jim Bob was not a normal employer. The week-end work turned into week-days after school. Jim Bob taught me a work ethic that has gone with me through my entire life. If he caught me eating grapes from the produce section, he would just frown and shake his head. I got the message. If I crashed a stack of Mozolla cooking oil, he would say - that is OK - just be more careful next time. My bag boy wages was the only money that I had to spend - not sure how my Dad managed on a Pastor's salary of $400/month, while he and mom would going to college full time at Wayland Baptist. Jim Bob allowed us to work as many hours as we wanted in the summer - the store was never open on Sundays. I think that I worked about 73 hours each week and my take home pay was about $43. Jim Bob had a great team at the store - his father, his mother-in-law, Francis Overstreet, Harry Overstreet, Leo Lebow, Max Garza, Larry Northcutt, David Overstreet (and I probably left out some). I worked at the store until the spring of 64 when my family moved back to Alaska.
