Quote:
Originally Posted by tccrab
(snip)
JVD was a bit of a Gentleman Scoundrel, he never cared a whip for what anyone else thought of him, he did what he did and asked for no excuses or explanations or forgiveness.
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"Gentleman Scoundrel"...
Boy, "tccrab" you just described my friend Jim to a "T".
Great words!
At the C4 Gathering Banquet last night (Sat 17 May) Jim's three children, Erin, Jim Jr and Kristen, surprised everyone by attending. The Registry had asked me to give a tribute to Jim because I was told that the three kids really didn’t want to say anything but I talked Jim Jr. in to getting up in front of that crowd to talk about his Dad and make a presentation to the Museum of the Corvette memorabilia that Jim had planned to donate had he been there. Originally, the Registry had asked me to make the presentation, but getting Jim Jr. to do it (which I’m sure his Dad would have appreciated) ended up working out very well. I think it helped Jim Jr. and it really made the audience feel good in this time of trying to make some sense of such a tragic and sudden loss.
I was proud of Jim Jr. (don’t call him Jimmie anymore). It was tough, but he gave a really nice insight to his Dad and his families’ feelings about Jim’s closeness to the Corvette hobby.
Wow. I hadn’t seen Erin or Kristen since before Jim moved out of CA back in 03. They’ve grown to be two very pretty, poised and just really nice women.
The reason I was at the Gathering was to moderate the panel-discussion about the Record Run of 1990 the Museum scheduled for Saturday morning. On Friday, I rewrote the first five minutes of my introduction into a tribute to Jim. That worked out very well. The people attending the session appreciated it as did the panelists who all knew Jim well.
At the Gathering, the ZR-1 Net and Grand Sport Registries had already scheduled a tribute to members who had died in the last 12-months to be held Saturday just before lunch. They came to me that morning and asked if I’d make a short tribute speech during that session. That was tough because I don’t like to work “ad lib” in a situation like that obviously I wasn’t saying no. It ended up working out quite well and I actually enjoyed being able to say a few words all of Jim's Corvette friends in that environment.
There will be no services for the Corvette community other than last night at the Museum which ended-up a celebration of Jim’s connection with Corvettes and Corvette people. As Erin Van Dorn told me it may have been impromptu but since “everyone” was in town for the Gathering, it was as good a time as any to have ZR-1 and Grand Sport people reflect on the loss we all suffered, the great friend Jim was and the wonderful association he had with our hobby.
They are going to do a second event of some sort in the next week or so for Jim’s non-Corvette friends in Bowling Green and this summer, in California, they’ll do a third memorial event for Jim’s family and friends in CA.
I think Erin is monitoring Jim’s email and Jim Jr. has Jim’s mobile phone so, if you have JVD's contact info, those are a couple of ways you can contact those kids if you want.