Thank you Kelly, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff... moreThank you Kelly, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: (C)443-812-4145 less
Tim HigginsThank you Kelly, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff... moreThank you Kelly, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: 443-812-4145 less
Thank you Melissa, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Melissa, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: (C)443-812-4145 less
Only fond memories of a childhood friend. My condolences to his family. (8th grade dance)
Tim Higgins
Thank you so much for posting this picture and your condolences Melissa.
February 24, 2021
Tim HigginsThank you Melissa, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Melissa, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: 443-812-4145 less
Thank you Cheryl, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Cheryl, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: (C)443-812-4145 less
We met in 7th grade. My first real memory of you was at lunch at you teasing me the way middle school boys did. I playfully smacked your chest the way middle school girls would do. Little did we both know that your brothers jacket that you were wearing... moreWe met in 7th grade. My first real memory of you was at lunch at you teasing me the way middle school boys did. I playfully smacked your chest the way middle school girls would do. Little did we both know that your brothers jacket that you were wearing had matches in the pocket and the way I hit you was just the exact way to ignite the matches and start a fire in the pocket of the jacket. It was the first time you got suspended because of me but it wouldn’t be the last. For a hot minute we tried dating in early high school but quickly realized we were better as friends. You were the kind of guy that was friends with everyone but you didn’t let everyone in. I was one of the few you did. You were protective of me and I don’t think many people in high school realized that until you caught my ex talking crap about me in the hallways. You said you told him to stop but he didn’t listen. He ended up with two black eyes and you ended up with another suspension because of me. A lot of people were scared of you because of your 6’5” 350+ pound frame. You looked tough, you acted tough but you weren’t. You were a giant teddy bear with a heart of gold. My heart is broken. It’s broken for you, for your kids, for your siblings and for your mom.
Tim Higgins
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful memories Cheryl. I remember how much Mike cared for you and appreciate the condolences.
February 24, 2021
Cheryl Buratowski (Via)He was an amazing guy. I owned a preschool not far from where he lived in Frederick and would see him often. He just liked to stop by end talk. I even hired him to do some handyman work around the school for me. He never did anything halfway, he took... moreHe was an amazing guy. I owned a preschool not far from where he lived in Frederick and would see him often. He just liked to stop by end talk. I even hired him to do some handyman work around the school for me. He never did anything halfway, he took pride in his work. He even made an amazing cardboard barn for the kids at the school. Mike will always hold a special place in my heart and I will cherish every memory I have with him.
Tim HigginsThank you Cheryl, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Cheryl, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July. The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: 443-812-4145 less
Thank you Courtney, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July.
The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Courtney, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July.
The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: (C)443-812-4145 less
Mike, loosing you has been a shock and im in utter disbelief. I can’t remember how we met I just know we’ve always been friends. Now matter how much time pass in between us seeing each other we always picked up we’re we left off. You would give me... moreMike, loosing you has been a shock and im in utter disbelief. I can’t remember how we met I just know we’ve always been friends. Now matter how much time pass in between us seeing each other we always picked up we’re we left off. You would give me one of those big bear hugs and we would reminisce about the old days and crack up laughing. I will miss those times and I will definitely miss you. I want to send my love and prayers to the kids and the rest of the Higgins family. Rest In Paradise my friend. Save a hug for me in heaven. Love ya always, Courtney
Tim Higgins
Thank you for the kind words and beautiful memories Courtney. Happy to hear that Mike touched your life. Thank you for the condolences.
February 24, 2021
Tim HigginsThank you Courtney, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July.
The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park... moreThank you Courtney, we hope you are able to join us for Mike's celebration of life gathering in July.
The Mike Higgins Celebration of Life Gathering will be held rain or shine on Saturday, July 10th, from 2:00pm-6:00pm, at Pinecliff Park in Frederick, Maryland. We reserved covered-shelter #2 (2nd shelter on the left as you enter the park). Food and beverages will be provided as we spend the afternoon celebrating the life and memory of Mike Higgins. Please bring a warm heart, a loving spirit, and a fond memory of Mike. All who loved Mike and would like to celebrate his life are welcome to attend.
Pinecliff Park: 8350 Pinecliff Park Road, Frederick, MD 21704
Please contact Tim Higgins with questions: 443-812-4145 less
💔 One of the kindest, happiest, most generous ladies I know, left this world yesterday. When I was growing up, pretty much every adult you knew would yank a knot in your tail if you were acting up. That’s just how it was. We have a great mother, but... more💔 One of the kindest, happiest, most generous ladies I know, left this world yesterday. When I was growing up, pretty much every adult you knew would yank a knot in your tail if you were acting up. That’s just how it was. We have a great mother, but sometimes during those formidable years, you need to have two or more. May Vance was my #2 Mom, and she was awesome! Anytime you saw her, she was smiling. She rarely would say anything bad about anyone. She would kinda look down, and she’d say, “I’m a little disappointed in ‘so and so’, they should know better” And that’s about all she would say. She loved on me like I was one of her own kids. I still have the giant birthday card she gave me on my 16th birthday. She was so funny too! She’d start to tell us a story about something that happened to her growing up on the farm, and she would start giggling and snorting trying to tell the story, we’d all be dying laughing, just laughing with her! She loved Jesus, and I know she made him smile. May was also a little forgetful. We would pile into their station wagon to go somewhere, and inevitably, she would set her purse on the roof of the car and get it. We’d get to our destination, and she would start to get out and be like, “Oh, I forgot my purse!” And there it would be sitting on the roof. Luckily, there was a luggage rack on the roof that kept the purse corralled in. Way back in those days, everyone had CB radios in their vehicles. Of course, you had to have a CB ‘ handle’ that everyone knew it was you. May’s was perfect, ‘Lampshade’! She always wore these wide brim floppy hats, they were kinda her signature thing back then. And she lived up to the name in every single way.
When I heard this morning that she had gone onto heaven, I started remembering all the great times we had, and this thought came to mind. How much fun would it be in heaven, if when we arrived, you were addressed by everyone by your CB handle or nickname? Wouldn’t that be cool?!?😎 I know that she is going to be greatly missed by her family and friends. But I can assure you, even though it’s been a long time since she danced, ole ‘Lampshade’ is dancing and singing with the angels today! And that....... that’s the beginning of our hearts mending. Love ya, Ma#2! 🧡💙 less
This is from Mom:
Paul was such a great little boy, with lots of friends. And he continued to be that way as he grew up. He loved camping with the family on Cape Cod and returned there when he was older. He loved to travel with friends – all over,... moreThis is from Mom:
Paul was such a great little boy, with lots of friends. And he continued to be that way as he grew up. He loved camping with the family on Cape Cod and returned there when he was older. He loved to travel with friends – all over, including Colorado and California, but he always came back home.
I’d get regular phone calls from #2 Son, checking in. He said #2 Son was to keep him from being confused with his brothers. He always wanted to know what was going on – even when he was living across the country.
I miss those phone calls now. Even after he had a family of his own, he shared with us about their activities and his pride in his daughter Carolyn.
I know Paul is with family and friends that love him and will still be checking on us from heaven!
Writing this is acknowledging what would be an easy absence to explain during this time. There are lots of people I have not seen in as long as it’s been since I’ve seen Alex. Friend and family alike. I have a very vivid laugh in my mind—an... moreWriting this is acknowledging what would be an easy absence to explain during this time. There are lots of people I have not seen in as long as it’s been since I’ve seen Alex. Friend and family alike. I have a very vivid laugh in my mind—an “ah-HA” when I think of Alex with a big smile on his face. This is how I have thought of Alex for years. And how I think of him now. NOW now. As someone who loved Alex, and also understood his complexities, I have a few thoughts.
The mundane was never mundane
It could be a 24-hour train trip to Portland…instead of a 1-hour flight. (spoiler: people who take that train are too crazy for an airplane.) Or ordering every fried chicken in town for a taste-off instead of one dinner (Popeye’s fried chicken + Out The Door’s Siracha butter sauce is the winning combination).
It was always about the journey, destination optional
Wandering around the dusty town of Garzon, Uruguay for a holiday we entered an oasis of an Inn and meandered around the property for quite a while… to discover that it was actually someone’s backyard. We spent the afternoon with Martin and Annie, and then ended up staying with them for 3 days and having an asado in Francis Mallmann’s backyard. You just never knew…
Alex lived in double time
As anyone reading this can attest, you were either dinner #1 or #2 on any given evening. But you wouldn’t know which one because he would be thrilled to see you regardless. Not many people can have 12 dinners on the books in one week, but Alex certainly did. In hindsight making it to 9/12 dinners a week was probably a good average…just a different matrix.
Alex loved his people
It makes me happy to see how many magical moments Alex created with everyone around him. How much of an impact he has had on so many. He loved his mom, Andrea, Joe, nieces and nephew deeply. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and Alex love of film, games and curiosity about everything came from Carol. No one had as many personal connections…the inside joke or secret handshake kind of moments…that other people just wouldn’t understand. Alex was the secret sauce.
I am glad that so many people that got to love and be loved by Alex. And wish there would have been 51 more years of that in this world for people to experience. XOXO. Kathleen less
Birthday buddy- Always there for everything. Soccer games, school plays, proms, graduations, engagements, weddings, babies, and everything in between Never missed a beat. Father #2. our hearts hurt, but you’re in our DNA, so we have you forever. ❤️
A CHRONICLE OF THE LIFE OF JAMES GERALD ZIZZO
10 Nov. 1931 - 17 Jan. 2020
compiled by Jim’s children Carol, David, Tom and Kenny
with many smiles, tears, and fond memories
James Gerald Zizzo came from a storied past and lived a storied life. He was... moreA CHRONICLE OF THE LIFE OF JAMES GERALD ZIZZO
10 Nov. 1931 - 17 Jan. 2020
compiled by Jim’s children Carol, David, Tom and Kenny
with many smiles, tears, and fond memories
James Gerald Zizzo came from a storied past and lived a storied life. He was an intelligent gentleman and an honorable veteran of the Korean War. Jim had a strong work ethic, love of family, boundless kindness, humor appreciated by all ages, and the humility to get up and dust himself off so he could laugh again and live young as late as possible in life. He gave his family plenty to be proud of, and inspired them to be someone their own life partners and children would be proud of.
There is a saying that life grows through love and kindness. How Jim’s life grew and what he made of his life is reflected in part by what he offered through his character, his kindness, his love of family and friends, and his effect (direct and indirect) on those he knew.
Jim passed away very peacefully on January 17, 2020 with his family at his side. Jim’s life was not perfect, but it was perfect that Jim was a part of our lives. He was
• A great grandfather of 15 years
• A pharmacy owner, as well as adored step-father, of 25 years
• A practicing pharmacist and father-in-law of 40 years
• A grandfather of 45 years and banjo player of 50 years
• A father of 64 years and husband of 65 years
• A loved human being of 89 years
• A special memory...forever
Jim loved telling stories. In remembrance of our father, we, Jim’s children, have produced this chronicle of Jim’s life story. We did this out of a desire to recollect him in a single source of photos and prose, more complete with “When”, “Where”, and “Why” information than simply “What” took place.
We also did this for the benefit of our children who knew their grandfather but not with the level of detail provided by this chronicle. Hopefully, it gives them an appreciation of who Jim was besides an elderly banjo-playing grandfather, and some fun reading about his background and history. It is something we did not have the fortune to be given on our grandparents, mainly because our parents did not have our generation’s digital technologies (e.g., cellphone photography, in-home ancestry searching, scanners, photo editors, printers, online sharing of photos, etc.).
What you read herein is a chronicle of Jim’s life, but the real story lies in those who knew Jim as father, husband, relative or friend. Jim valued the gathering of family and friends. So although Jim is gone, we should value being together...Jim would want that, and so would our dearest mother Barbara who passed away 30 December 1991.
Jim’s Ancestry
Two families immigrated from Europe to New York in the 1890’s. One family was full Italian of name Marsala. They lived in San Francisco a mile west of what used to be Candlestick Park, the stadium of Giants baseball and 49er football. They had 11 children. One of them named Mary would become Jim’s mother.
The other family was predominantly Polish of name Dada from the Czech Republic or Czechia (back then Bohemia). They lived in Chicago and had two sons, Joseph James Dada and Samuel Dada that were given up to adoption at St. Vincent Orphanage in Chicago before the start of the 1900’s. The two boys would not reunite until July 22, 1936 in San Jose CA. Italian immigrants of Sicily adopted Samuel Dada and renamed him Thomas Zizzo. Thomas would become Jim’s father.
Joseph James Dada (b. 30 May 1895, d. 3 Sept 1963) was never adopted and at age 14 he ran away from the Chicago orphanage landing 35 miles north in Gurnee (population under 400). He hung around dairy and cattle stockyards until farmer John Eichinger and wife Margaret took Joseph into their home and that's where he grew up, eventually marrying Anna, raising 3 children (Rosemary, Sam, Joseph), and serving as the first Chief of the Gurnee Fire Department for 10 years (1931-1941). His son Sam served as the fourth chief for 35 years (1954-1989) [Ref. http://www.gurnee.il.us/fire/dada_history, “History of Gurnee Fire Department from 1948 - 1978 by Chief Sam Dada”] before retiring to Berryville Arkansas. Gurnee named a street after the Dada’s, and dedicated Fire Station No. 2 at 6581 Dada Dr. after them, in honor of their service.
[Ref. http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/2014/01/31/sam-dada-gurnee-fire-chief-of-35-years/afgmy9m/].
Joseph’s brother Samuel Dada (b. 19 June 1897, d. 24 Jan 1963) was 4 when he was adopted in 1901 by Italian immigrants Gaetano “Tom” Zizzo (b. 1855, d. 3 June 1919) and Lena Zizzo (b. 1872, d. 23 Feb 1927) of Sicily with no children. Through adoption, they renamed Samuel Dada to Thomas Zizzo which is how Jim inherited his father’s adopted Zizzo family name.
The Zizzo family of three moved to Alviso, CA (became part of San Jose in 1968) at the north end of San Jose around 1912, a few years before U.S. President Woodrow Wilson declared war with Germany during World War I. San Jose, with all its orchards and agriculture, was advertising itself as the Garden City back then.
Gaetano passed away when Thomas was 22. Three years later, after growing up unschooled with a daredevil reputation in Alviso, on April 23, 1922, the 25-year old Thomas married 18-year old Mary Josephine Marsala (b. 23 Mar 1904, d. 6 Jan 1978). Mary was the oldest of 11 children of James G. Marsala (b. 2 Feb 1880, d. 26 Jan 1949) and Anna Campagna (b. 1884, d. 7 Jan 1966) who lived in a two-story home with a ground floor grocery store at 271 Raymond Avenue, San Francisco.
Thomas and Mary Zizzo lived at the Marsala home until all four of their children were born. The first child was Anna Marie (b. 3 Sept 26, d. 24 Dec 08). The second and third children were twins, Caroline Lorraine (b. 25 Jun 29, d. 5 Sept 06) and Thomas Jerome (b. 25 Jun 29, d. 15 May 88). This was 4 months before the start of 10 years of the worst U.S. economic downturn known as the Great Depression. Their 4th child was James Gerald Zizzo born November 10, 1931.
Growing Up in San Jose, CA
This Zizzo family of 6 moved to an Italian neighborhood in 1932 a mile south of downtown San Jose with population 58,000. They acquired a home from Ms. Rosa Rivas at 578 Willis Avenue across the street of Gardner Elementary School. Jim recalled his mother correctly telling him later in life that it snowed in San Jose on December 11 that year.
Many men and women harvested orchards or worked in canneries. Jim’s father Thomas worked a mile from home at Richmond-Chase Cannery, Plant #2, on Cinnabar Street for 30 years, starting as a dried fruit crate assembler, then label machine operator, and finally head mechanic.
Growing up in this era, and within an immigrant culture, instilled a strong sense of family in Jim. Neighborhood families literally helped one other survive by sharing knowledge, skills, and food. They traded pigeons, rabbits, chickens, and produce. Like many homes on Willis Ave, the Zizzos had a half-dome brick oven in the back yard for making bread. They would put dough underneath the wood-burning portion of their indoor stove to raise the dough, and then take it to the outdoor oven to cook. Once old enough, Jim would start the indoor wood fire in the morning before going to school. Sometimes during recess, he would walk across the street to his home and grab a freshly baked slice of bread laced with olive oil.
The Great Depression ended as Jim began Gardner Elementary in 1938 and World War II began a year later. Elementary school was also Jim’s start with one of his childhood heroes, Captain Midnight, via radio broadcasts and comic books. The Captain was an extremely skilled World War 1 aviator who fought crime, espionage, and sabotage. Like millions of youngsters, Jim liked using the Code-O-Graph to decipher encrypted messages previewing the next week's episode.
Jim was a smaller child with the characteristically thin legs and ankles of his mother. His nickname became “Pipi Nieto” (pee grandchild) because bigger kids would tickle him on the ground until he peed his pants. However, Jim was able to turn pee and tears into ice cream and smiles. In the eyes of his siblings, he was the spoiled child because mom would take Jim to movies and the Garden City Creamery (76 E. Santa Clara St.) for milkshakes while the siblings were in school. His mom also cooked Jim his favorite leftover meal, fried spaghetti.
In a music class Jim simply did not have a voice for singing so a teacher made him hum songs. He hummed along just fine and the teacher praised him for that. He went home proud to tell his mother. But his oldest sister Anna, being jealous of the spoiled one, ruined his proud moment by saying “You can’t sing, that’s why they made you the hummer.” And humming he did later in life once he learned to play the banjo. Jim first heard a banjo at the Marsalas in San Francisco who often had family and friends over playing instruments such as accordion, mandolin, and banjo. But it would be 20 years later before Jim learned to play one.
After Jim completed 6th grade at Gardner Elementary in 1943, his family moved 2 miles south to 1821 Almaden Road. From 1943 to 1946 Jim completed grades 7 to 9 at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High (701 Vine St., closed in 1971). It was a period when IBM began its west coast business in San Jose, the population grew from 76,000 to 85,000, World War II ended in 1945, and the city evolved from a dairy and agricultural center to an urban, high-tech metropolitan area. It was also the period when Jim became fond of two girls from his junior high class, Norma Ciardelli, and athletic Emily Lucente, but he never dated them.
Three other Italian boys became Jim’s closest friends during junior high (Richard Caputo, Carl Bozzo and David Costanza). The four boys were all born the same year and the same month, all were members of the school band, and all would one day have professional degrees and careers. Those were the days when students weren’t bused. Kids growing up in the neighborhood went to school together, walked or rode their bikes together on Saturdays to downtown movie matinees, and hung out together around the multitude of mom and pop stores, especially the creameries like Garden City, O’Brien’s (223 S. First St.), and Crystal (304 E. Santa Clara). That Italian foursome instinctively knew they would stay in touch throughout their lives.
One day Jim climbed up on the garage roof of his house on Almaden Rd. Jim says he dropped a small bucket (used to hold nails) off the garage roof onto his brother Tom’s head and a rush to the emergency room was on. Although there is no photographic evidence, one can easily imagine 12-year-old Jim staring at his father with an implicit “Not me” innocence expressed through grins, raised eyebrows, and wide eyes. That sort of facial expression is something he did at age 50 and that some claim was inherited by his first son. So Jim learned his lesson about safety and the sting of his father’s razor belt. As boys will be boys, his brother later reciprocated by throwing an irrigation faucet at Jim’s forehead and another emergency run was underway.
It was not uncommon at home for early teen Jim to be helping by his father’s side working the house, the yard, or the family car, while his mother tended to never-ended housekeeping. For Jim’s father, Sunday was always a family day of church and rest as long as something didn’t need fixing. But Sunday was also the one day Thomas reserved for a well-earned glass or more of good old homemade Italian red wine, the liquid fruit that Jim would cherish into his eighties.
One Sunday Mary got mad because Thomas was too busy to take the family to relatives in San Francisco. Thomas and Jim sat on a canvassed sofa sleeper under an apple tree in the back yard. Mary came out of the screened back door patio and down into the dirt floor basement where the wine and jarred food were kept. Jim wondered why she went there. He saw her come up the basement stairs with dress lifted high enough that he could see her hosiery rolled down above her knees. She didn’t say anything so Jim went to the basement to check. He came out to tell his dad that mom had opened several wine barrels to drain onto the dirt basement floor. His dad could only groan “Oh Mary” several times.
First Job, Life-Long Buddies, and First Love
Jim saw how hard Thomas and Mary worked to support their family. That matured Jim and he embraced his parents’ work ethic. At 13 Jim started working two miles away in the heart of San Jose near Post and Market streets across from a Greyhound bus station. He worked as a clerk at LaRosa Pharmacy (30 S. Market St.) sweeping floors, making deliveries on a bicycle, and shining shoes. The owners were August "Gus" Salvadore LaRosa (b. 13 Apr 1912, d. 8 Feb 1959) and his wife Mary Lucille Lima (b. 3 Sept 1912, d. 21 Aug 2006). August was a 1933 graduate of UC San Francisco’s School of Pharmacy (and President of the American Pharmaceutical Association, or A. Ph. A.). Jim would follow in his footsteps exactly 20 years later.
Just across Market St. was Garden City Parlor (51 S. Market, old Levi Strauss building on southwest corner of Post and Market) well known for billiards tournaments on the second floor with players like Fast Eddie Pelkey and female Masako Katsura, and its popular cafe on the ground floor (which, 10 years later, became the Garden City Hofbrau until 1976 and then Harry’s Hofbrau for 42 more years at 390 Saratoga Ave adjacent to its Garden City card room). Jim would grab a bite to eat after work and watch some great pool players. It was advantageous for him to chat with the cafe owner because the owner would occasionally serve Jim steak that he otherwise could not afford, and because Jim wanted to save money for school.
Jim saved enough to pay tuition at California’s oldest high school (1851). It was a private, Jesuit, all-boys boarding school of 200 named Bellarmine College Preparatory School (960 W Hedding St.). Jim chose Bellarmine because he knew that is where his three closest friends were going to attend.
In 1946 at age 15, Jim, along with his three buddies, began high school at Bellarmine. This coincided with the Garden City billiards parlor being purchased (by the Dalis brothers) and converted to a 10-table poker room (that relocated in 1976 as Garden City Casino at 360 Saratoga Ave and then closed in 2011 to be replaced with Casino M8trix near the airport). With the poker room off-limits to teens, and hormones kicking in, it wasn’t long before Jim frequented different local downtown hangouts that were popular places for Bellarmine boys to meet girls.
One place was the YWCA’s teen center called Hi-Spot (1944-1959), a social, recreational, and civic club governed by students and an adult advisory board. It had a snack bar, classes, forums, sports, games, dances, and a Sunday column in the San Jose Mercury newspaper entitled “Hi-Spot News.” Many of the girls were from private, Catholic college preparatory Notre Dame High School (596 S. 2nd St.) and San Jose High School which at the time was on the San Jose State College campus (San Fernando St. between 6th and 7th).
Little did Jim know that his first true love would be a girl from Woodland CA living on Clintonia Avenue just half a mile from his old home on Willis Ave., and attending San Jose High School like his junior high crush Emily Lucente. On May 20, 1948, 18-year-old senior Barbara Gayle Meeker (who happened to be tutoring his Bellarmine buddy Carl) asked 17-year-old junior Jim to play ping pong. Barbara was very good...Jim was terrible. Jim was impressed by Barbara’s competitive skill but even more impressed with Barbara’s intelligence. That same year Jim got Barbara a job at LaRosa Pharmacy.
Jim discovered that Barbara also loved playing pinball machines so they would play them at the Greyhound bus station across the street from the pharmacy. They spent a lot of time there because they won a lot of free games. Jim knew how to make the ball stop moving in a way that would accumulate points continuously.
Jim graduated from Bellarmine high school on 11 June 1949, the year San Jose’s main airport opened and a year before the Korean War started in June 1950. But graduation quickly became a distant memory after his father Tom had a non-fatal heart attack that put him out of work for a year. All family members had to work to make up for lost wages.
College and Marriage
The job and friendship with his boss Mr. LaRosa inspired Jim to pursue a degree in pharmacy at UCSF. Jim’s father Thomas had wisely saved money that Jim earned from summers picking produce (apricots, prunes, beans, tomatoes) and working at LaRosa’s pharmacy. It was enough for four years of tuition and a Bachelor of Science degree totaling $500.
Degrees in pharmacy were offered at UCSF’s School of Pharmacy on Parnassus Ave a 1/4 mile south of the eastern end of Golden Gate Park and Kezar Stadium. College applicants had to take entrance exams as part of applying at the UC schools. Jim and his 3 Bellarmine buddies all scored in the top 3% on the chemistry portion of the exam. Jim received a call from the head of the chemistry department, pioneer solutions chemist Dr. Joel Henry Hildebrand (b. Nov 1881, d. Apr 1983). He asked Jim who his high school chemistry teacher was and Jim said, Father Gerald Sugrue. Dr. Hildebrand told Jim how impressed he was with Sugrue and his students. Since freshman year of classes (chemistry, math, military science) were offered on the UC Berkeley campus, Jim completed his chemistry with Dr. Hildebrand as his teacher who, by the way, worked with undergraduate students until 1983 at age 100.
Jim had to take military science because UC college admissions required ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) for male students to receive basic military and officer training. Jim started his Pharmacy ROTC training for the Army in his sophomore year. Unlike World War ll pharmacists drafted into the Army as privates, and forced to compete for opportunities to become officers, the ROTC graduates were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants in the Medical Service Corps Reserve. Jim also became a student member of the American Pharmaceutical Association (A. Ph. A.).
According to Jim, during his first college semester, he discussed marriage with Barbara who was in her second year of college at San Jose State. Jim had not proposed yet because he could not afford an engagement ring, the demands of college seemed a barrier, and his mother Mary strongly advised against it until he finished school. Jim, concerned they would have to wait until after college to get married, worked the summer of 1951 at the cannery to earn enough for an engagement ring.
Love and determination won out and Jim and Barbara were engaged in August 1951. They waited until Barbara graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare until getting married Sept. 14, 1952 at Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose (80 S. Market St., 500 ft south of Hart’s Department Store) a few months before Dwight Eisenhower became the 34th President. Bellarmine buddy David Costanza was Jim’s best man and his other buddy Richard Caputo was a groomsman. The other two groomsmen were Barbara’s brothers Emory and Neil Meeker.
Believe it or not, Jim and his new bride “Babs” honeymooned 50 miles north of San Francisco in the community of Camp Meeker (4 miles southeast of the Russian River). They started a romantic flame in the fireplace but the flue was closed and the honeymoon suite filled with smoke. The hilarity continued into the evening as they discovered the king bed was actually two twin beds that kept sliding apart. Their first residence was an apartment in Redwood City as they ate their meals on an ironing board.
Jim was the only member of his family to go to college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from UC San Francisco College of Pharmacy in June 1953. Perhaps it was divine intervention of his chemistry teacher Dr. Hildebrand, because Jim got to work at the UCSF Hospital Pharmacy creating intravenous solutions.
Two Years of Army Service in Texas
Fighting between the Koreans ended a month later but without a signed peace treaty. So a year later (23 May 1954) Jim was inducted by the Selective Service System to serve in the U.S. Army and, per the UC ROTC requirements, he was stationed in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. According to Jim, he did not pass a physical exam for field duty so they made him a Pharmacy Officer of the Army’s Medical Service Corp. The Army needed personnel to teach various subjects and Jim was assigned to teach clinical chemistry. In 1955, as 2nd Lieutenant, he was the highest-ranking chemistry teacher with the shortest college credentials.
Children and Return to San Jose
The newest Zizzo family began in Texas on January 3, 1956 with the birth of daughter Carol Ann. To Babs’s overwhelming delight, Jim was honorably discharged 4 months later (31 May 1956) and they moved back to San Jose, living at 1003 Clintonia Avenue, the home of Babs’s parents Lloyd Meeker (b. 10 Feb 1899, d. 30 Mar 1973) and Bernice (Washburn) Meeker (b. 6 Jan 1906, d. 27 Dec 1992). As Jim’s story goes, with all the excitement of being back in San Jose, that is where their second child David Martin was conceived a month later. That summer, the newly built Valley Fair Shopping mall with Macy’s opened and the excitement continued (at least for Babs).
As Babs began to grow, they temporarily rented an apartment 4 miles west at 632 Cypress Ave. (just a mile from the new mall) while Jim returned to work at LaRosa Pharmacy and they searched for a larger place to call home. They settled 4 miles south in a tract of newly built homes at 3489 Gavota Ave before David was born March 1957. The excitement continued in their new, 1300 sq. ft. home (3bd-2ba) as a year later their second son Thomas Douglas was conceived and the Zizzos became a family of 5 in December 1958. This was the epic start of two new Zizzo brothers sharing a bedroom.
San Jose’s population had grown to 200,000 by then, less one as August “Gus” LaRosa passed away in 1959 and his wife Mary kept the pharmacy going 10 more years. By now Babs was working at a pharmacy in Menlo Atherton. Jim could have kept working at LaRosa’s but he yearned for his own business in a smaller community.
Jim’s Own Pharmacy in Gilroy
Jim and Babs saved and secured financing in 1960 to move to Gilroy CA, a tiny town of 7200. They purchased Wentz Rexall Drugs pharmacy (started in 1899 at the corner of 5th and Monterey Rd). Jim wouldn’t admit it but he probably chose that store because it had a classic wooden floor soda fountain, reminiscent of his days at Garden City Creamery.
The Zizzo family of five lived a mile away at Glenview Drive and 10th Street. It was but another time of excitement because Babs was expecting her 4th child. Jim’s kids remember one morning a hormone-crazed Babs throwing scrambled eggs at Jim and the eggs trickling down Jim’s face behind his glasses. A bigger home was needed so Jim moved the family into a 3200 sq. ft. house (5bd/2ba) built in 1900 on half an acre lot at 222 Martin St. The Zizzos became a family of 6 with second daughter Nancy Elizabeth on April 25, 1961.
Life was pretty cool then, figuratively and literally. Babs had a babysitter Pat for the kids, Jim and family attended his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary party, the Zizzos celebrated Nancy’s first birthday, Jim’s staff served the kids cherry cokes and ice cream sodas at the pharmacy, and it snowed in Gilroy in January 1962. Interesting how history repeats...it’s 19 years after Jim dropped the bucket on his brother’s head. Now son David throws a coffee can of rocks into the air, accidentally landing on his friend’s head, and a rush to the emergency room was on again.
The start of 1963 was not so kind. Jim’s father Tom suffered a heart attack on January 23 while watching the four Zizzo children in Gilroy with his wife Mary. He had rototilled the front yard even though Jim warned him not to do any labor while he and Babs were away in Death Valley of all places. Tom passed away in the hospital the following morning. Jim and Babs were in King City then as heavy fog had hindered a speedy return home. At his father’s service, Jim tearfully pounded on Tom’s coffin in frustration over his father rototilling the yard.
Thankfully time healed some of the painful loss. Jim met pharmacist Richard Mackie and his wife Shirley who lived a mile away on the west side of Gilroy (421 Arnold Dr). They decided to partner in a brand new Rexall Plaza Drugs pharmacy to be built on that side of town (at 771 First St.).
Months passed and happiness replaced sadness as Jim moved his family to the west side of town (411 La Sierra Way, 408-842-3717, changed to 401 in the 70’s) and Babs’s fifth child Kenneth James was born in January 1964. The drugstore opened in November 1964 during the growth of competing corporate discount chains like Thrifty Drug that eventually caused the franchising Rexall business, largest in U.S. in 1958, to be sold to private investors in 1977. Jim’s staff included Rachel Zook, Colleen Scott, Audrey Whiting, Gloria Masoni, Paul Barrara, Jane Dedini, and EJ Hobbs.
Family Vacations and Tragedy
With a new store and larger family, Jim worked many long days and nights while Babs tended to the children at home. Family pastimes in 1965 and 1966 included trips to Frontier Village in San Jose, Santa’s Village in Scotts Valley, and Sunset Beach near Watsonville. But Jim loved the greater outdoors so 1967 marked a summer of the family piling into their dark chocolate brown Dodge Polara station wagon and towing a new 18 foot Prowler trailer to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.
One long trip in a car with 5 screaming kids and fuel economy less than 12 miles per gallon was enough to convince Jim to switch to a Chevy Custom Camper truck with an overcab TravelEze camper for towing the trailer. If not the fuel economy issue, at least Jim was certain he had conquered the noise issue by having at most two children riding shotgun in the cab, and using voice intercom with the other kids in the camper.
The family vacation in summer of 1968 was a trip to Banff National Park and Calgary in Alberta Canada. That was all it took for Jim to discover that the intercom never stopped ringing. Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon in July 1969 as Jim was on the return leg of a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. Perhaps it was jealousy of Armstrong’s quiet lunar environment that persuaded Jim that summer to occasionally unplug the intercom.
Yes, Jim’s sons pushed his buttons in the early days, but Jim had unconditional love for all his children. Jim wisely found deserved quiet time oil painting nature scenes back in those years.
If the hands of time could be reset, Jim and Babs would undo winter 1969 and all of 1970. They lost their 9 year old daughter Nancy to leukemia after nearly a year of treatment at Stanford Children’s Hospital. The loss was enormous emotionally, mentally, and financially. It happened as Jim, then 40 years young, had invested in an apartment building, was working time and a half on his pharmacy business, and trying to resolve employee issues that were negatively affecting profitability. But Jim found some solace by continuing the family vacations in 1971 as the Zizzos ventured to Vancouver, San Mateo, and even back to the desert of Death Valley, with the trailer in tow and close relatives and friends joining them.
Jim immersed himself in the newest technology as the Vancouver trip marked the beginning of priceless reels of Super 8 home videos packed with landscape scenes, zooming, panning, blurry faces, and occasional universally-recognized hand gestures (his brother-in-law Emory called it the fickle finger of fate). It was also a time of pipe smoking with a characteristic sucking at the corner of his mouth (which he would do on occasion even without a pipe). This made for some great photos over the years and a rainbow of aromas to tantalize his curious children. A 40th birthday reunion celebration with the Bellarmine gang of four gave Jim some more mental breathing room.
Noble Service
Jim learned that life’s losses can bring gains. He realized it through community service that seemed a natural fit for a legal “drug pusher” who had a strong inherited work ethic. And being a down-to-earth, self-employed, small business owner, Jim could relate to just about anyone through interested listening and a bit of compassion. Serving as president of the South Santa Clara County Drug Abuse Prevention Society, Jim led Gilroy’s drug abuse program and efforts to establish a drug abuse clinic. Jim’s noble service earned him Gilroy’s Man of the Year award in 1971. Little did Jim’s children realize that welcoming a homeless, unbathed, unshaven drug addict to the family dinner table would impart compassion and humbleness to their adult lives years later.
Bankruptcy was not a word in Jim’s dictionary of life. Although the apartment investment had to be liquidated, and the camper truck replaced with a green Dodge Polara station wagon, the family vacations continued in 1972 with trips to the Grand Canyon and Lake Tahoe. With pharmaceutical companies holding conventions internationally, Rexall Drug owners Jim and Babs also travelled to Greece that year, followed by Hawaii in 1973 and Brazil in 1974. Jim continued his community service and secured a grant in January 1973 with the Santa Clara County Drug Abuse Prevention Society to educate the public on drug prevention, juvenile probation, and aid ex-addicts in finding work. That same week in January, Babs was named the first ever female member of Gilroy’s City Planning Commission.
By this time Jim had his sons working at the drugstore instead of mowing the lawn and pruning juniper bushes at home. Interesting how history repeats...it’s 25 years since Jim and Babs’s LaRosa Pharmacy work and pinball at the bus station. And now Jim’s sons have learned pinball at the Gilroy Greyhound bus station on old Monterey Road and are working their first paying jobs at a drug store, sweeping floors, watering nursery plants, and helping with deliveries via a van known as the Rolling Pill Box. Babs has to call the boys by phone to join their father for dinner after hours of pinball at Fling’s Pizza parlor (303 1st Street) five minutes from home.
A New Store in a New Location
Jim’s 1974 trip to Brazil was the last of his Rexall Drug store trips. He had grown unhappy dealing with all the challenges since the loss of daughter Nancy, and discouraged over the lack of success with the store. Nothing seemed important to him then. Jim felt despondent and ready to end his pharmacy business in Gilroy and seek a smaller pharmacy opportunity somewhere in the Sierra.
In 1974 Jim sold his interest in the drugstore to his partner and began a temporary stint with Vessey Drugs in the Rancho Del Mar shopping center of Aptos. This was a dark period in Jim’s life due to his distance and time away from home, and the emotional and physical burdens it put on Babs. Near the end of the year Jim headed to the Mt. Shasta area to investigate a small drugstore opportunity but another investor acquired the store the night before Jim’s arrival. Thus Jim continued his search in the Sierra.
It was only a short wait until wealthy resort owner Bob Stern of L.A. offered him a job at the Pines Resort market of Bass Lake 16 miles south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park and 9 miles north of the geographical center of California town of North Fork. Jim accepted the offer and moved to a temporary home on the lake until he could relocate his family. The Zizzo family experienced their first Bass Lake Christmas to end 1974 and Babs resigned from her Gilroy City Planning Commission job in January 1975.
This new start on life was accented by the birth of Jim’s first grandchild Shanon, and watching a favorite weekly TV show M.A.S.H. about an Army surgical hospital in the Korean War. In a brow-raising, wonderful way, Shanon had a striking resemblance to Nancy. The station wagon and travel trailer were sold and the Zizzo family moved out of their Gilroy house in June 1975. Before the close of 1975 Jim moved his family to a home 1/4 mile from the shore of Bass Lake at 40437 Road 331.
Jim’s small pharmacy and service counter was constructed inside the Pines Resort market store. Jim worked there four years. During this period, Babs was a certified escrow officer for SafeCo Title Co. in Oakhurst and then Founders Title Co., daughter Carol lived in Seattle, son David attended college, son Tom married Denise Marshall in 1977, and son Kenny completed middle school. Jim also partnered with the head of the Pines Market meat department who loved lake fishing and the two purchased a pontoon boat. Needless to say, the boat served as party central for countless great times on the lake with family and friends. Those times helped ease the pain of losing his mother Mary Zizzo of 74 years to natural causes in January 1978.
Near the end of 1978 Jim and Babs moved 4 miles to the opposite side of Bass Lake off Road 223 at 36154 Popi Poyah in the Teaford Meadows development. In January 1979 Jim jumped at the opportunity to purchase Sierra Vista pharmacy (33023 Rd 222) in the town of North Fork. That opportunity was Jim’s triumph as he had finally realized his smaller, community-oriented pharmacy in the Sierra.
Family times, so valued by Jim since a youngster, continued with hosting a wedding reception for daughter Carol and new son-in-law Dede Sherrard. Jim and Babs were rewarded with their second grandchild Linton Sherrard in January 1981. They had ever-so-memorable Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years celebrations that included another camping trip to Death Valley with relatives and long-time friends from Gilroy.
With renewed outlook, 50-year old Jim served on North Fork’s Lions Club, Planning Advisory Committee, Sierra Ambulance Board of Directors, and Chamber of Commerce. Jim also served as President of North Fork’s Boosters Club in 1981 and 1982. His community involvement earned him North Fork’s 1982 Citizen of the Year award presented to Jim in February 1983.
Jim renewed his banjo playing and he joined a band that played in the North Fork area. He celebrated with a cruise to Mexico with past Gilroy friends from Aptos. One of Jim’s favorite things to eat growing up was fried leftover spaghetti. He nearly peed his pants again when the cruise chef fried some spaghetti just for Jim. The year closed with arrival of Jim’s third grandchild Ashley Marie.
Dealing with Heavy Adversity
But just as Jim’s life seemed to have settled, it took another turn for the worse. Babs was diagnosed with cancer in April 1984. However, neither Babs nor Jim were going to let this episode break their spirits. Armed with wisdom from past experience, and Babs’s highly positive attitude, Jim continued banjo playing and travelling with wife, family, and friends over the next 6 years.
They motor scootered in Bermuda with friends from Massachusetts (Robert C. and Paula K. Gaynor). The arrival of Jim’s fourth grandchild David Charles kept the family joys going. With banjo and trailer in tow, Jim and Babs camped in Washington with daughter Carol’s family, toured the World Expo in Vancouver, enjoyed a huge family reunion camp trip on the California coast at Lime Kiln park Big Sur, and camped with family at New Brighton Beach in Capitola.
Yet it seemed like Jim couldn’t catch a break from bad news. His brother Thomas, one of the nicest people on the planet, passed away far too young in 1988 a month short of turning 59. That reinforced to Jim that he needed to stay strong, keep his chin up, continue building his life, and enjoy the moments shared with family and friends.
Jim and Babs had fun eating lobster and cioppino on Cape Cod with those Massachusetts friends, celebrating his son Kenny’s marriage to Lana Tarpley and his own 57th birthday in historic Jamestown, and bowling on New Years in Seattle. The Jamestown outing resulted in a keepsake photo of Jim with his “Did I do that?” expression being embraced in laughter by his sons...a photo that to this day is on display in his son’s homes. A year later Jim was looking really sharp in a tuxedo at his son David’s wedding in Mission San Jose.
Trailers had been a staple in Jim’s life so it was not unexpected that Jim replaced his gasoline truck and 24 foot trailer with a diesel truck and 5th wheel trailer. It came in handy with many Zizzo/Meeker relatives and friends braving the rainiest Thanksgiving camping ever at San Mateo Memorial Park. The fifth-wheel, or “Moby Dick” as his kids called it, provided safe haven from the torrential rain and cold for many a relative that night.
The upbeat continued with a vacation in the Yucatan of Mexico, and celebrating Father’s day in tandem with new grandson Anthony James Zizzo in 1991. Jim’s band provided the music for Babs’s huge 60th birthday bash in August at the North Fork town hall.
Tragically, Babs’s health declined quickly to the point that it warranted moving to Fresno to be closer to appropriate medical services. A second major battle in Jim’s storied life was lost when his wife of 39 years passed away 30 December 1991. The town of North Fork dearly missed Babs and Jim so they filled the town hall in March 1992 to pay tribute to their Zizzo friends.
A Rebirth of Life
Thankfully angels were on Jim’s his side because his life had a renaissance in 1993 when he married Linda Clifford, an England-born lady with her own family of two sons and a daughter. The ceremony was at Plymouth Congregational Church in Fresno (3199 Harrison Ave.) and attended by both families.
The couple bought their new home at 5851 W. Fallon Avenue which Jim lived in for 26 years right up to his final days. He retired from pharmacist work in 1996. Over the years this Zizzo couple was actually a trio because Jim was very fond of canine companions. Heidi, Tootsie, and Precious all lived the good life receiving love, kindness, and endless table snacks from Jim.
But it was Linda who was the greatest thing to happen to Jim at this stage in his life. Sharing their lives together gave Jim all the purpose and opportunity he needed to do what mattered most to him in the twilight of his life. He loved and cared for Linda, he laughed again, he danced with her, he cooked, he took her camping, and he visited Linda’s family in England. Jim was thankful that his life was building again with added family. Linda’s children Gary, Sharon, and Dean loved Jim just as though he were their father from the very beginning.
Jim and Linda travelled through many states with their fifth-wheel trailer. The longest trip was 3,100 miles one direction to Valdez, Alaska where they toured the Columbia Glacier aboard the Lu-Lu Belle. In 1998 Jim visited with brother-in-law Neil Meeker and family in Palestine Texas. Jim also had a reunion with his cousin Samuel Joseph Dada (son of Gurnee fire chief Joseph James Dada) in Berryville Arkansas. He bottle fed his sixth grandchild Amanda Rose in 1995, and greeted great grandchildren into his life, his first being grandchild Shanon’s daughter Annaleis in 2005.
Jim enjoyed walking the dog, working in his yard, sharing his stories, and attending family weddings, birthdays, sporting events, and graduations. He was also manager and banjo player of Fresno’s The Good Times band that performed Tuesday mornings at Fig Garden Village in front of, yes, a pharmacy (728 W. Shaw Ave) next to La Boulangerie de France bakery. The band played folk and patriotic songs of the 1920s through 1940s.
Saluting Jim’s Life
Jim was never one for the spotlight but he deserved his moments there. He was given a heart-felt salute on his 70th birthday. It was attended by his Zizzo and Clifford family members, his two older sisters Anna and Caroline, in-laws, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren. The salutes continued for Jim’s 80th and 85th birthdays, albeit without his late sisters.
Being away from a pharmacy all those years did nothing to suppress Jim’s appetite to understand any and everything about new medicines and medical treatments. He would write to government departments and receive the latest information on various medical topics of interest. Jim was also interested in passing along ancestral information to his family. In June 2011 he gave copies of an Ahnentafel report to each of his children. His thirst for information and research was the perfect excuse for his children to give him a Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5234 laptop for his 80th birthday. If it wasn’t for the complexities of the internet and operating system, his family might have received more than 25 emails over the years he used it. Nevertheless it made things easier on him using it as a replacement to buying and mailing all the event cards (holiday, birthday, graduation, etc.) associated with 3 generations of family members and many friends.
The Final Year
For most of 2019 Jim required care after experiencing a fall at home. Despite creating anxiety over Jim’s health and Linda’s future, in a divine way it brought his family members closer, affording them precious time with Jim and Linda while providing in-home care during Jim’s final year. Jim hated all the pills he had to take but, boy, he sure enjoyed the meals his family prepared daily. And he greatly appreciated aid with what otherwise would have been simple hygiene such as a warm shower and shaving.
It was a valuable learning experience for family members as it opened their eyes to the incredible value of patient advocacy. Jim’s family became eternally grateful in particular to Jim’s son Kenny and Linda’s daughter Sharon for their time and effort spent helping Jim recover and making him comfortable at home.
As tough as it was for Jim and everyone else, thankfully Jim never lost his goofy expressions and sense of humor. He was eating pancakes one morning. As he stared down at the stack on his plate, Jim saw an analogy between those cakes and his days at the hospital and doctors offices. He sympathized with the stack and said “I know how you feel. First you get thrown into a cold place with all the others. You get beaten in circles until you’re limp. They flip you this way then that way as more and more holes form in you. You end up flat on your back and needing someone to pick you up, but when they do they stick you some more.”
Jim appreciated a visit from nephew Brian Meeker a year earlier. On his final birthday in 2019, Jim had a delightful visit from daughters Judy and Marlene of Jim’s sister Anna, and daughter Joanne and son Thomas of Jim’s brother.
Jim was in the presence of the Zizzos and the Cliffords as he passed away very peacefully on Friday January 17, 2020 at Hinds Hospice in Fresno CA (1416 W. Twain Ave). The final salute is to Jim’s life, his love and kindness, his service to country and community, his humor and perseverance through it all, and the memories and influences he left us.
Photographic Storyboard for Remembrance
A small service and celebration of Jim’s life was scheduled to be held April 4, 2020 at his son Tom’s residence. As unpredictable as some moments in Jim’s life, a respiratory coronavirus named COVID-19 originating in Wuhan China began spreading around the world requiring quarantines and unprecedented sheltering in place, restricted travel, and prohibited assembly. Appended to this chronicle are story-boarded photographs assembled for Jim’s celebration of life. They complement pictures that have been included in this chronicle. less
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