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James Hill has died.

Started by Tom, March 04, 2004, 07:52:03 PM

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Tom

James is the fellow I've told y'all about who was an artist when it came to making rustic cedar furniture. I've put pictures of him on the forum before but the last time I went to see him, he was nothing but a shadow.   His stomach was swollen, he ate constantly to no avail and was thin as a rail.  Always a very thin person, he was nothing but a bag of bones.

James used everything on a cedar tree. When he was through with it, there wasn't enough left to make a fire.
  


Here I am with James last labor day.   Something told me to go visit so I picked up my camera, got in the truck and drove to Folkston just to see him.  We sat on the back porch all afternoon and I made sure I took pictues of him and his place.

James always had something going.  Some thought he was a con-man but he was just trying to make a buck. I never saw him but what he had a deal going somewhere.

He talked a little to me about being in prison once.  It was enough and he never wanted to go back. He said he made honesty a priority in his life to make sure.

Once a heavy drinker, his wife, who preceded him, put a stop to that.  In his last days I noticed he was getting back into it again.

I could tell a lot of stories on James, and, I may from time to time

Here is James in his Cedar Lumber Storage room.



Here is how I'll remember him, sitting on the back porch and talking about gathering cedar in Alabama, fishing for catfish in the Doctor's lake. (remember the lodge?), talking of his friends and my being embarrassed when he talked about how much I had meant to him.  


I'm going to miss him.

BW_Williams

Tom, sorry for the loss of your old friend, thank you for sharing him with us.  BWW
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etat

Tom, sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.  Good for you for going to see him labor day.  I bet he appreciated it too. And I bet he appreciated having you for a friend.
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

DanG

I'm sorry to hear of his passing, Tom. He must have been an interesting fellow. I can see in the background of those pics that he had a great eye for rustic artistry. Do you have more pics of his work?

"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Tom

I have a few but his work is scattered all over North east Florida and Southeast Ga. in the manner of desks, bedroom furniture, dining room tables, chairs, cedar chests, pulpits and even entire rooms.

Here is a picture of a piece of wood his wife painted a bulldog on. There is a shelf beneath it.  You can also see the cedar trim on the window frame similar to what  he put in his whole house.  He had no qualms in puttin a stick on the wall just because he liked the stick. :D


Dugsaws

Sorry to hear about your friend Tom, it sounds like he meant a great deal to you  :'(
Doug

Woodchuck

Tom;
Real friends are hard to come by. Sorry for your loss. Your friendship must have meant a lot to him too.

                                                            Woodchuck

Duane_Moore

Tom.  here are some flowers from us, God Bless James,   Duane & Judy  :(
village Idiot---   the cat fixers----  I am not a complete Idiot. some parts missing.

Stephen_Wiley

Tom,  I can tell that (the porch) is a well used place for discussing battle plans, stories and overall great place to watch the rain and weather from.

Hope you find comfort in the many friends you have here at FF.
" If I were two faced, do you think I would be wearing this one?"   Abe Lincoln

chet

I am very sorry to hear the loss of your friend James. Reading your post I feel I too have lost a friend, even though we have only met through your writings.
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

OneWithWood

Tom, thank-you for sharing James with us.  His spirit endures in your stories and the countless works of art he created.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

EZ

Tom,
I have never meant you in person, but reading all your post I feel you are a good friend. When a friend is hurting so am I. Sorry for your loss of your friend.
EZ

redpowerd

I, too, am sorry about your buddy, Tom.
Im sure you meant alot to him. he musta been very happy with a friend like you.
I share the same taste in rustic cedar. i think his place looks great. its sad to loose such an artisian.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Tom

I appreciate the condolences,but, you know, I've been thinking and I'm not as sad one might suppose.  I have a lot of good memories associated with James and it seems as if he's not really gone.   I'll miss him. yep.  I'd pull up in his yard and he'd run out of the house, with a big smile on his face, like I'd caught him loafing and say "Hey Tom Cadenhead".  He didn't call me Tom.  He used my full name  "Come on up on the porch" .  He'd be busy pulling up a plastic or old slat chair.   He was never one to let work get in the way of a good visit. :D

Here is a picture frame, one of thousands he had made I suspect, that he had hanging in his living room.


Corley5

Sorry to hear about your loss.  The pictures of James remind me of my Grandpa Bob.  He passed away in much the same manner. :( :'( :'(
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Mark M

Sorry to hear about your friend Tom.

Tillaway

My condolences as well, Tom.   :(
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Kirk_Allen

Sorry for the loss of you friend.  Thanks for sharing a part of your life with us.  

Kirk

Tom


Here is another corner of his Living Room
where he has a Cedar cabinet and shelves
installed.
Again, you can see the trim on the wall. :)

Tom

A piece of elm that I split
for him about 3 years ago.
He was getting ready to
use it and I don't think he
lasted long enough.


I was talking with another acquaintance from Folkston last night who was looking for some beams and he told me some disturbing news.  It seems that when James died in the hospital, beginning that very night,  someone began taking trucks to his homesite and removed all of his tools, including a big 20" planer and a jointer I had given to him.  They took all of his wood, all of his projects, all of his furniture, personal and house-hold belongings and even some cedar logs that were waiting to be cut.  The property was left empty and no one knows where the stuff went.  James had no family, though I think I remember his talking about a sister in Florida.  A search for his stuff will probably not be persued since their is no relative. My only hope is that the State will try to recover it for probate since the State becomes the owner of all of our stuff by default. :-/



etat

Tom, you ever think or wonder about at exactly what point in his life when he looked at a cedar tree, or a cedar limb, or a piece of cedar board or furniture, and actually started carving on it.  I doubt if even then he knew that eventually it would become his hobby, and passion.  

In another life, with the right marketing, and with his skills, he probably could have become very rich as an artist in cedar.  However looking at the pictures of you and him on the porch, I'd say he was exactly where he wanted to be at that point in his life, with a good friend, and surrounded by treasures he had made with his own hands.  May we all someday be at that exact late point in our lives, knowing that's EXACTLY where we want to be, despite all the ups and downs we may have had.

It's a blessing that he didn't live to see his life's work and tools stolen and removed.  
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Tom

Amen, brother.   He was a happy fellow. We all measure richness by different rules.  He needed money to live and it seems that he knew how much money it would take.  He never wanted for anything, but I found that he wanted less than most of us.  Happiness to him could be sitting under the tree beside the little pond he had dug beside the house in trade.  He traded the work for some furniture.  He liked his friends and spent a lot of time with them since his wife died.

Now, as happens to most of us, he is a memory.  He will be famous only as long as he is remembered.  I intend to remember him a long time... ......I hope. :)


James did most of his planning and some of his sawing on a covered porch behind the shop.  His 20" planer is to the left and the jointer is to the right.  An assortment of various sizes and shapes of wood stand in the background waiting for someting to catch his eye.

His table saw was a skill saw mounted beneath a table he had built until about a year ago when he finally broke down and bought 10" sears  contractors saw.  I bought the jointer for him one day because he used the home made table saw to square boards and create glue joints.  He had built a fence but trusted his eye more.  He would shave away until the joint suited him. :) :D 

Fla._Deadheader

  Sorry to hear about James, Tom. I know from past stories that he was special to you.

  Having met with you, on several occasions, I know first hand how good a friend you can be.  I too hope you keep up with stories about James. He sure seemed like a fine feller.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Jeff

I spent the day today building some stands to put our monitors on out of some chunks of cedar slab I saved from the Cedar Eater log that I got over 2 years ago. I also spent the day thinking of James. When I got finished with my monitor stand I signed Jame's name to the bottom.





Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Tom


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