So Long, Jim

 

I was out walking in our fields when I got a call from one of my sons that James Francis “Jim” Heimer had passed away.

I had known that the time was coming but my throat began to tighten at the thought that the great man had passed through the heavenly gates, probably honking the horn of his farm truck to announce his arrival.

As my son, Travis, said at Jim’s service, “If God’s not a John Deere fan now, he will be soon.”

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Jim was born to Frank and Martha (Hanson) Heimer of Lexington, Missouri on September 4, 1932.

Pretty much as soon as his bare feet touched the ground, they pressed into the soil and took root.  Jim was a farmer from the time he took his first breath.  It was a rare conversation with him that didn’t include some comment about rain or the lack of it.  Of course there might also be something about calves, soil fertility, the crop he was putting in, or the harvest coming up.  Or the newest model John Deere.

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Some may have thought that farming was Jim’s favorite thing in all the world.  Well, it was up there alright but another topic was his number one priority.

His family.

Jim loved his mom and dad, like most boys do, but one day just after he’d returned from a trip to Korea courtesy of the U.S. Army, a friend recommended that he ask Dorothy Cretzmeyer out.  When he saw Dorothy, she was no longer the cute little girl who grew up a few years behind him in school and church.  She’d blossomed into a beautiful sweet-natured young woman. From their first date the two were inseparable.  Jim was a proud man with few fears, but he battled a strong case of the nerves the day he humbled himself and asked Dorothy to marry him.

She said yes.

Thus began an adventure that lasted just short of 62 years.  Jim would have never left his “Dorothy May Junebug” of his own accord but the decades of hard work had taken their toll by this year and he went to meet his maker on April 30.

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About a year after their marriage the young couple was joined by Laurie, the light of their lives.  Before long Ken came along to make things more exciting and, in 1962, my sweet Annie came into the world.

Farming took up much of Jim’s day and, as soon as they were up to it, he included his kids in the family business.  They bottle-raised calves, pulled weeds, and, as soon as they were old enough, sat atop the old one lung tractor, Poppin’ Johnny, an ancient John Deere.  If you lined up all the throughs and turns, I’ll bet old Poppin’ Johnny made more than one trip around the world before he cut his last furrow.  Newer and bigger tractors came and went but Jim never grew tired of tilling the soil…or of loving his family.

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In a few years the kids started to marry off and Jim and Dorothy welcomed 11 grandkids to their family.

At the funeral service Travis reminded us that Grandpa used to come home after a hard day working and playing with the grandkids, and engage the gears in his own, personal malted milk machine.  Oh, he really liked malts, but he loved even more sharing them with Dorothy and the grandkids.

Every single one of Jim’s grandkids made the trip to Lexington at a moment’s notice to honor their grandpa.  Father Christopher Smith officiated and did a terrific job.  He gladly let Travis give a heartfelt speech during the military service at the Veterans’ Cemetary in Higginsville, Missouri, where Jim will be inurned.  Travis did a man’s job holding back his pain long enough to give a speech that had everyone laughing and crying at the same time.

Jim would have loved it.

He would have loved it almost as much as having the family all together, for another reason of course.

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One day, when my time comes, I may be able to slip in under the radar and find the entrance to heaven.  Jim will probably meet me at the gates, where he’s been checking God’s rain gauge.

“Well, hey there, Scott.  I didn’t know if you’d make it,” he’ll laugh with that heartfelt, whole face smile of his.  “Come on up on the porch.  Your dad’s there, bouncing three of our great-grandsons on his knees.”

I’ll go up and hug Dad and Peyton, Jayden, and Adam, then I’ll turn around to see Jim’s smile again as he hands me a fresh, hand-made malt.

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I look forward to seeing you again, Jim.  Until then, you will be missed by a whole lot of people.  The world is a much better place because you were here, even though it wasn’t nearly long enough.

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I closed my phone after my son told me of my father-in-law’s passing.  Just then two sleek, brown deer leaped up from their beds in the wheat.  They looked at me for a second before skimming away over the field.  As they reached the tree-line, both stopped and looked calmly back at me, then turned and stepped quietly into the woods.

 

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