Jimmy Leck

I have never met a man like him; one who could so happily laugh at the world and also cry for it with such passion!
by Charlie Leck

This is a very personal blog. I write it in a great state of mourning. So, perhaps, it is not meant to be read – only written. It is a way of heaving up the pain I feel.

Jim, a nephew of mine, died in the morning on 4 July. He was far too young to leave. And, he was a deeply good and kind man who had so much more to give to this world.

No other person could make me smile and laugh the way Jim could; nor could anyone else make me weep for the world as he did. He loved as cavernously as a man could love and he felt the pain of those who suffered as if he were Christ-like. He talked often of justice and how allusive it is. Why, he often wondered, did injustice and cruelty prevail on such a beautiful planet?

I so enjoyed the Dom Delouise imitation he could do! I and my family would rock with laughter when he did it for us. Lord, he was a funny man.

Jim did not shake my hand when we encountered one another. He would give me a giant bear hug and plant a kiss on my cheek and tell me he loved me.

His father – my brother – called me on the morning of the fourth and tried to tell me. Words wouldn’t form and agony wept from him. I heard only a painful squeal. Jim’s mother took the phone and shared the sad, terrible news. Jim’s big, loving and generous heart had failed him.

I tried to speak words of sympathy and to express my love, but something choked at me and slammed against my chest. For me, all the world, for an instant, was dark and lonely and so very desolate; for I had lost a love.

The laughter had stopped, but I closed my eyes so I could see his broad, playful smile and his gleeful, glistening eyes.

A candle flickered before the gentle breath of God; and, it went out! A good, loving and generous man died far too young. May he rest forever among the stars and in the arms of constant love!

I loved you, Jim!