‘Dear Jim’: A Loving Tribute

At the memorial service for the late James Hutchinson Saturday at the Pico Base Lodge, the emotional peak was reached when his friend and fellow selectman Larry Townsend began to speak. Townsend and Hutchinson were classmates in the Class of 1965 at the high school, and Townsend invited the 15 or so other members of the class to join him as he read a tribute entitled simply "Dear Jim."

The text of his remarks follows, courtesy of the speaker:

With your sudden departure from our midst, I didn’t have the chance to share my thoughts with you.

How does one condense over 50 years of friendship into a goodbye letter? Let me share some memories I have of you…

I remember when you wore your Boy Scout uniform to school in the third grade. YOU were the reason I joined the Boy Scouts!

I remember us going camping on Braintree Hill. Remember Camp Porky? Also the times at the Boy Scout camp in Bethel, where I was making noises and hiding (in) the tree.

I remember us going swimming in the brook near your home on Peth. I remember playing soccer with you in high school. I remember when we thought middle names were funny—Right, Whitcomb? Right, Eugene?

I remember you in a number of plays, including "Death of a Salesman."

I remember a number of New Year’s parties at my parents’ camp on Duclos Road in Braintree. (Especially the one where you ripped your pants so bad, you went home at 3 a.m., changed, and came back…)

I remember us double dating at least once … and someone’s father came home early. We went running in different directions. I thought I had the worse luck of running into a barb wire fence, until I learned you ran into the manure pile!

I remember when we were in the service at the same time … you in Vietnam and me in Germany … trading letters (this was before the email, internet and computers). Perhaps I should say "trading lies." We were always trying to top each other in our stories.

We went in different directions for a while, both of us getting married and raising children. I recall I was at your 40^th birthday party (mostly because of the belly dancer that was there).

And most recently, I remember rejoining the selectboard in Randolph, mainly because I knew I’d like serving with you. Even as we argued or debated some issues, I knew at the end of the day we’d still be life-long friends.

Jim, these are some of the things I wanted to share with you. Somewhere along the way we became over-weight and old, grumpy men. Men that don’t always tell each other how much we mean to each other. So excuse THIS old man a moment of sentiment when I say "I love you, man."

As I sit here typing this with tears rolling down my cheeks, it is just beginning to hit me how much I’ll miss you. And I know as I look over at your empty chair at the next selectboard meeting, I will probably lose it again. In closing, thank you for all these memories and more! As long as I live, I’ll never forget you.

Your friend,

Larry

aka Monk, Magilla Gorilla,

Eugene, etc.