Jim Sparks - Memories
Hi, I’m Bruce Butler. Many of you who read or listen to this may not know me at all, but Jim and I go waaaay back, in fact he was one of my first childhood friends.
Jim’s passing was a shock to me, as I’m sure it was to all of you. I’m not able to attend his Celebration of Life but, as I reflected on our decades-long friendship, I decided I wanted to contribute something. So I took a trip down memory lane, cracked open some dusty photo albums and high school annuals, then wrote down my memories of Jim. I was originally planning on doing a flashy PowerPoint presentation with voice-over, but as we're building a house right now, the time demands on me are rather high, so you'll have to settle for this cobbled-together web page.
Jim and I first met back in 1968, in Mrs. Marshall’s grade 2 class at O’Connell Elementary on Jermyn Ave in Penticton. As you can see in our class photo, Jim already had that impish grin and a twinkle in his eyes. Not to mention he was one of the first in our cohort to get eyeglasses!
Jim’s passing was a shock to me, as I’m sure it was to all of you. I’m not able to attend his Celebration of Life but, as I reflected on our decades-long friendship, I decided I wanted to contribute something. So I took a trip down memory lane, cracked open some dusty photo albums and high school annuals, then wrote down my memories of Jim. I was originally planning on doing a flashy PowerPoint presentation with voice-over, but as we're building a house right now, the time demands on me are rather high, so you'll have to settle for this cobbled-together web page.
Jim and I first met back in 1968, in Mrs. Marshall’s grade 2 class at O’Connell Elementary on Jermyn Ave in Penticton. As you can see in our class photo, Jim already had that impish grin and a twinkle in his eyes. Not to mention he was one of the first in our cohort to get eyeglasses!
We both stayed at O’Connell through grade 3, then a catchment change caused us to transfer to Uplands Elementary on Middle Bench Road. Our family had just moved from our little house on Cambie Street to a larger home on Walden Crescent, which was only a block away from the Sparks’ place on Mitchell Place. Jim and I often walked to school together and more-or-less hung out all through elementary school.
Here's our Grade 4 class photo:
Here's our Grade 4 class photo:
After Grade 7 we graduated to McNicoll Park Junior Secondary. In the mornings I’d usually find Jim waiting outside our house for the walk to school, the proverbial 10-mile hike, uphill both ways, in the snow. After school, if we didn’t have any extra-curricular activities, we’d typically go to the Sparks house and listen to records or play ping-pong in the basement, often with Jim’s younger brothers Don and Will. I’d always lose at ping-pong, because, well, they owned the ping-pong table and got to practice all the time. As Jim had already been taking piano lessons for many years, I was often “forced” to listen to Jim bang away on the ivories as he showed off some tune that he’d recently mastered.
In junior high, Jim gravitated towards music—concert band and stage band—but we still shared an interest in volleyball. Jim also did quite well in cross-country running. In grade 10 we were both fortunate to have been on the Pogo Volleyball team when we won the Okanagan Valley championships. At that time there were no provincial championships for junior high schools, so the victory felt to us it felt like we’d won the gold medal in the Olympics.
Here's a few photos I got out of our McNicoll Park annuals:
In junior high, Jim gravitated towards music—concert band and stage band—but we still shared an interest in volleyball. Jim also did quite well in cross-country running. In grade 10 we were both fortunate to have been on the Pogo Volleyball team when we won the Okanagan Valley championships. At that time there were no provincial championships for junior high schools, so the victory felt to us it felt like we’d won the gold medal in the Olympics.
Here's a few photos I got out of our McNicoll Park annuals:
When we moved up to Pen-Hi, the town’s only senior high school, Jim got more involved in music while I gravitated to the sciences. We remained close friends, occasionally walking to/from school along the KVR line. We were both in Mr. Tinka’s Outdoors Club, participating in many hikes, camping trips, and rock climbing in the Okanagan Valley. We, along with friends Rob Cross and Terry Harbicht, and Jim’s older brother Doug, also did a fair bit of camping, making several treks up Okanagan Mountain to our secret camp at Baker Lake.
After high-school graduation, we both enrolled at UBC—Jim in music and me in science—and shared a room in Trinity House (T2 rules!) at the Vancouver School of Theology. (As an interesting historical parallel, Jim’s older brother Doug and my older brother David were also roommates at VST in their first year.) Jim and I spent many a night debating our respective educational choices while chowing down on “za” from UBC Pizza. Jim’s theme was variations on, “What’re you gonna do with a degree in physics?” while I countered with, “A music degree? Now there’s a dead-end path.”
Jim was quite popular with the girls at UBC, partially, I’m sure, due to his hair. Ah, his hair! Jim had perfect hair. I envied Jim’s hair. We remained good friends as we advanced through our years at UBC. As we were both dating girls in the Music Department, I often attended concerts that Jim was in. In 1982, I was fortunate to be able to attend Jim’s wedding in Prince George, which was officiated by another VST floor-mate and alumnus who had graduated in divinity.
As is common for childhood friends post-university, Jim and I lost touch for several decades (okay, almost four). In 2019, we reconnected on Facebook (where else?). It turned out we lived not far apart, on opposite sides of the Fraser River (he in Langley and me in Pitt Meadows). On a fall day in 2019 we met for coffee at Osprey Village and boy, it was neat (and a bit weird). We’d both obviously gotten older, but hadn’t really changed all that much. Jim still had that twinkle in his eyes and that impish grin. And his hair. Jim still had that perfect hair - just a slightly lighter colour from when we were younger. We spent two enjoyable hours catching up. At the end of our visit, we both confessed to have been thinking the same thing going into this reunion: I hope this guy didn’t turn into a jerk after all these years… this could be awkward…
We parted, agreeing to meet up again “one of these days.” Then COVID threw a wrench into our plans. Then we moved back to Penticton. We kept in touch via Facebook, planning to meet up again at our 45th high school reunion.
Alas, Jim’s gone now. Far too soon.
So, what do I remember most about Jim?
His perfect hair.
Making fudge during Mrs. Berry’s grade 6 cooking class at Uplands Elementary.
Ordering pizza in the middle of the night from UBC pizza and debating our academic choices.
But the thing I’ll remember most about Jim was this: one spring day in 1975, as we were walking back from high school, Jim said, “You gotta come over and listen to this cool new album.” It was Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours,” and we played it over and over and over for several weeks. So, to this day, whenever I hear Stevie Nicks’ huskily crooning “Dreams” or Lindsay Buckingham belting out “Go your own way,” I’m instantly transported back to 1975, hanging out in the Sparks’ living room on Mitchell Place.
In closing, I'd like to quote from Star Trek (as I am wont to do): "Death is that state in which one exists only in the memory of others... which is why it is not an end."
Thanks for the memories, Jim! Rest in peace, old friend.