Page 36 - March Banner 2018_Neat

Page 36 March 2018
Our Neighborhood Veterans
R e m e m b e R i n g J i m S pa l d i n g
James Irvin
Spalding, life-
long resident of
Thurmont, passed
away peacefully in
his home on May
19, 2014, at the
age of seventy-five.
He was the loving
husband of Ellen L.
Sutton Spalding for
twenty-three years.
Born January 23,
1939, in Thurmont,
he was the son of
the late Charles
“Hamp” Spalding
and Helen M.
Gourley Spalding.
Jim served in the
United States Air James Irvin Spalding
Force for four
years. He worked
for the Maryland State Highway
Administration as a Maintenance
Foreman for thirty-four years,
and earned—along with his father,
Charles “Hamp” Spalding, and
brother, Don Spalding—a family
accolade for 109 of combined
service to the organization (Jim
worked thirty-four years, Don
worked for thirty-seven years,
and Hamp worked for thirty-eight
years).
Jim was a member of Trinity
United Church of Christ, a life-
member and past Post Commander
of AMVETS Post 7 in Thurmont,
a member of the American Legion
Post 121 in Emmitsburg, a member
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The Catoctin Banner Newspaper
by Jim Houck, Jr.
Courtesy Photo of the South
Mountain
Rod and Gun
Club, and a
member of
the Guardian
Hose
Company in
Thurmont.
Jim was
an athlete.
At Thurmont
High School,
he played
soccer,
basketball,
and baseball.
In 1956 and
1957, his
team won
the Frederick
County
Championship
for basketball. He loved to dance
and was good at it. He loved to have
fun, tease people, and laugh with
them. He loved to cook and have
his family for Sunday and holiday
dinners. He helped the fire company
in preparing food for different
events. He was involved with family
functions and the community. On
most days, he would wake early
and set the coffee on for his wife,
Ellen, then set about making his
rounds to Bollinger’s Restaurant,
to Shuff’s Meat Market, to Hobb’s
Hardware, and, sometimes, to
Timeless Trends, before setting back
home. He was a father that never
missed an event, ball game, outing,
the time, he was the first to arrive.
party, or celebration, and most of
He didn’t promise to be there, HE
WAS THERE!
Jim made sure family and friends
came together for one of his favorite
activities: butchering. He guarded
his recipes for pon haus closely, and
only shared the recipes with a few
select individuals, imparting the
knowledge slowly and sometimes
without their knowledge. Those
who had the privilege of tasting his
recipes know that his are some of
the best.
Jim’s daughter, Kathy Hovermale,
said, “He taught me so many things,
and I have a lot of funny stories
I could tell you about jokes he
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played on me.” One story she told
was about Jim walking her down
the aisle on her wedding day. She
recalled, “When it was just him
and me in the back of the church,
he kissed me, told me he loved me,
then kicked the side door open and
said, ‘Last chance—we can run; I’ll
go with you!’” Jim found Kathy and
her husband, Keith, a house that
turned out to be right up the street
from Jim’s house in Thurmont.
Kathy said people thought she was
crazy moving so close to her family.
Kathy said that since moving in, “I
needed them [Jim and her mother,
Ellen] a thousand more times than Shop Local!
they ever needed me. I ate their Support Your Community
food, sat on their porch, and spent
more time there bothering them than Pratronize Your
the other way around.” Local Businesses.
Jim’s niece, Diane Miller who
passed away in September of 2016,
said, “We talked on the phone every
day, and some days two, three, or
four times, depending on what was
going on. I had to keep him updated
on what was going on around the
farm.” She recalled his relationships
with the farm animals, saying he
wasn’t too fond of cats, but was
very involved with all aspects of the
farm. She recalled him often asking
what she was going to do when
he wasn’t around to help with it
anymore. Diane said, “I know it’s
not realistic, but I never thought
that day would ever come.”
An ornery youngster, an
elementary school teacher of Jim’s
wrote on one of his report cards that
he, “had a rather happy-go-lucky
attitude about it all.” For all who
knew him, that described him well.
He made friends wherever he went,
even befriending a lady who had
mistaken him for “Steve” during a
rest on a bench in a Walmart.
In addition to his wife, Jim’s
family members still miss him
greatly. He is survived by two
daughters, Mary Mahoney and
Pennsylvania, and Kathryn
husband, Michael, of Fairfield,
Hovermale and husband, Keith,
of Thurmont; his grandson, James
Austin Hovermale of Thurmont;
his brothers, Donald L. Spalding
and his wife, Joan, of Thurmont,
and Charles E. Spalding, also of
Thurmont; neice Lisa Campbell and
husband, Todd, and their daughter
Katy, of Hagerstown, Maryland;
nephew, Mark Spalding, neice-
in-law, Deb, and their children,
Lydia and Hayden, of Thurmont;
and nephew Randy Miller, of
Sabillasville.
God Bless the United States of
America, God Bless the American
Veteran, and God Bless You.