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James (Jim) Stephen McCaffrey passed peacefully from this world into the arms of our loving Lord on June 15, 2021, at the age of 92. Born December 26, 1928 in Eston, Saskatchewan, Jim was one of nine children in the very close McCaffrey clan.
He was often the last to arrive at the many large and boisterous McCaffrey family gatherings, and true to form, he was the last sibling to be brought into his Eternal Home to join them in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jim’s memory is cherished by his 34 nieces and nephews, to whom he was a caring and fun uncle. He was the uncle with the bad dad jokes – and some pretty good ones too. He would show up at the door dapper as always, starched white dress shirt, vest, suit jacket and tie, with a big box of Pot of Gold chocolates and ginger ale.
At about the age of seven, doctors thought Jim had tuberculosis so he had to leave his family and live in a Saskatoon sanatorium for about six months -- until they decided that he didn’t actually have the disease. However, his best friend, who was in there with him, passed away from it. Jim’s strength of character and love of his mother and father helped him accept that experience as ‘just something that happened to him’ and he didn’t bear resentment towards the doctors involved.
Uncle Jim was a fixture at all family gatherings, telling a funny story with his arms tightly folded across his chest. Or he’d amaze all with a trick such as showing an unpeeled banana that, when peeled, was already neatly sliced inside. When he didn't want to do something he would say with great gusto “ohhhhh no, no ,no”, followed by his unique choppy happy laugh. One of his favourite sayings throughout the years was: “Well, I haven’t told you that story – today.”
He was a genuine character, a cheery person with many fine qualities and diverse interests.
Jim obtained his Bachelor of Science in Geology in 1948, from the University of Alberta. He was a Professional Geologist, and for most of his career his own boss, working as a wellsite geologist. His territory ranged from the Mackenzie Delta at the edge of the Beaufort Sea down to the shallow wells of southern Alberta. His preference was the lucrative deep wells in the Northwest Territories, where someone willing to withstand the cold winters could participate in long stretches of gainful employment.
A nephew who unexpectedly found himself working with his uncle on a Saskatchewan oil rig observed his uncle as a man with an extremely thorough work ethic, making other workers double and triple check their details. The workers had enormous respect for the quality of work demanded by Jim, even though he made them work harder than they might have been used to. When someone asked him once what he’d do if he went all the way out to a well and didn’t find oil there, he responded with his trademark wry humour – “I’d go back to the office and fire the guys who sent me out there.”
When Uncle Jim would get ready for or come back from a job on a well, he’d ‘hire’ family kids to help him stamp well sample bags.
They would call out numbers and he would plot them on his oil rig graphs. He would always have ginger ale or orange soda, and peppermints or malted milk chocolate bars for his helpers. Although as usual he would spend a lot of the time telling stories, his helpers didn’t mind as it gave them time to eat more candy and drink pop.
Jim kept his data from oil field jobs for 30+ years – he wanted to be able to answer any questions an oil and gas company might come back to ask, years later. His efficiency was also evident in his personal life, as he decided the best use of his time was to leave his Christmas tree fully decorated after Christmas, carefully wrapped up in plastic, and safely stored away in the back of a closet.
Early in his career, Uncle Jim had a chance to travel to the Haida Gwaii Islands off the coast of British Columbia. They left a lasting impression on him. He had been too young to join his brothers Ed and Dick in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. However, he became a student of Second World War history, with a special interest in the war in the Pacific. He regaled his nephews and nieces with tales of the exploits of Admirals and Generals, and took some family members to Montana to see General Custer's battlefield at Little Bighorn. His historical interests included great fascination with the Kennedy family.
Although Jim sometimes seemed like a bit of a homebody, he was in fact a great lover of travelling – by car. He patiently took his mother Margaret and her travelling companion on some very long drives within North America. In the summer of 1962 they drove from Calgary to Midland, Texas where Jim’s brother Dick was living with his family. It was over 2,800 km each way, but the history buff driving swung by the Alamo in San Antonio before heading back to Alberta.
Another 1960s driving adventure was a road trip with the Gaetz family to the Black Hills of South Dakota, to see Mount Rushmore.
Jim was known for driving his beloved white Chev Impala with the red interior and big fins rather slowly – except when he’d realize he was late for something terribly important, and he would gun it down a gravel road with gleeful nephews in the back.
After Jim retired, one of his great travel joys was to drive the 23 hours from Calgary to Phoenix, with his brother Tom. A real “Odd Couple trip”, one can just envision Tom ribbing Jim endlessly, and Jim enjoying it immensely. On one such trip, Tom nodded off as Jim took his turn driving. After Tom awakened and realized Jim had missed a turn-off, he urged Jim to do a u-turn at one of the meridian crossings reserved for police vehicles. Jim refused, as it wasn’t allowed, and the two bickered as they flew past numerous such u-turn opportunities. Jim finally relented and did the u-turn – directly in front of a police officer. When pulled over, Jim immediately threw his brother under the bus, protesting to the police officer “He told me to, he told me to!”, while Tom laughed uproariously.
But Jim would get the upper hand sometimes as well. On one return trip from Phoenix, a border guard about to let them go through asked if they had anything else to declare. “Just some grapefruit in the trunk”, Jim piped up, knowing Tom had carefully hidden a few from his Phoenix tree under a coat. During the couple of hours the two brothers had to sit while border guards carefully went through every cranny of the car, one can only imagine Tom’s pokes at his mischievous brother.
But these were adventures cherished by both, as evidenced by the numerous times Jim took the trip to Arizona, sometimes staying for a month at a time.
While younger nieces and nephews would often make bike trips to visit Jim when he lived with Grandma McCaffrey on Morley Trail, over time a number of them became basement-suite tenants in that house.
He made every one of the kids feel special. His typical formal greeting of “Hello Missy”, as he’d bow slightly from the waist, one hand behind his back, one hand pressed to his belly. Or a handshake for the boys, making them feel very grown-up indeed.
An audio recording Jim made on his reel-to-reel tape machine showed this perfectly – gently coaching each child to say their name and then recite a line from “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. For the wee ones, Jim would say the line for them, and then they’d get to repeat it into the mike. It was obvious the nieces and nephews were lining up for their turn, and Jim’s patience was remarkable.
He loved recording events for the family, most often with his camera and exploding flash bulbs. Epic slide shows were shared with family over the years, usually after kids had to spend much time putting all the toys back into the box in Grandma’s living room, to be stored for the next time behind the couch.
His sisters -- Mary, Marg, Bonnie and Leona -- would often good-naturedly express frustration to him (especially regarding his trademark lateness) with an exasperated “Oh Jim!!”, but their love for him was always apparent, especially shown by two of them naming their own sons “Jim”. This sibling love was rich and vibrant at the Boxing Day gatherings at Grandma’s, that doubled as a birthday celebration for brother Jim.
Jim was a faithful practicing Catholic throughout his life, and even in his later years if he happened to “oversleep” during his nap and miss the Sunday Mass at St. Cecilia’s Church, which was directly behind his apartment, he would drive all the way across the city to attend the Sunday evening 7:00 pm Mass at St. Lukes. One of the very many ways he lived out his Catholic faith in his life actions was by compassionately caring for his widowed Mother in the house he shared with her until her passing.
Although Jim’s memory suffered in his later years, his sense of humour remained intact. During lunches, after he'd finished his dessert and entree (usually in that order, his sweet tooth still strong) he’d casually but purposefully drop his napkin on the floor. When someone commented on it, he’d mischievously reply with a smile "Someone will pick it up" then add "you see...I have an answer for everything."
The clarity would come and go, but the twinkle in his eye, his smile, and a wry comment would always make appearances with every visit. The twinkle we still see in the picture of a fiendishly grinning Jim in front of someone’s wedding cake – wielding a big axe over his head. Or an adventurous looking young man, on a driftwood-strewn BC beach, crouched behind a large dead Great White shark – wielding a small fishing rod.
Jim was always proud of his Irish heritage, and an Irish writer once wrote that “the thing about love is that we come alive in bodies not our own.”
Our love for our Uncle Jim will keep him alive in our hearts and minds forever.
(Special thanks to “Team Uncle Jim” – Bob Schneider, John D. McCaffrey, Don Gaetz, Marie Sondergaard and Teresa Lebsack - for keeping Uncle Jim safe, healthy and happy in his final years. Thanks also for additional memories from Gerry Gaetz, Diane Lockie, Anne Malone, Brian McCaffrey, Tom McCaffrey, and Diane Pollock -- and to Marjy LeGuilloux for weaving them into this wonderful tribute.
The family wishes to offer their sincere gratitude to all the staff at Bethany Harvest Hills for the wonderful care they gave to 'Uncle Jim' - you are all truly amazing.
A recording of the memorial service can be viewed below.
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