James Odis Johnson.
I've known Jamey since I was 20 years old and went to work for the lab. He was a lab supervisor and I was the secretary. We didn't really work together much at the beginning. We were all so young. The lab techs used to call him Dad. It was an exciting time with the company; a time when the supervisor would not go home until every last field tech had come in off the road; a time we worked together as a team, when you did your job, and then helped everyone else until it was all finished. I typed reports on a typewriter, I ran TSS's, I knew how to take off and calculate BOD's; we were more of a family then.
When I'd been here a few years, Jamey and I started working more closely together on reporting. I finally had a computer to do my reports, and Jamey checked those reports. I know his signature as well as I know my own. We were both easy going and we worked well together. He liked to make things easy for people. He laughed alot.
The years passed, we all got older, our children got older. Jamey was very proud of his children. All three graduated from college, his son has plans to get married. When they all moved out, things got a bit rough for Jamey. The past three to four years haven't been so good for him. He was unhappy all around and couldn't seem to find himself. Using all the wrong tools to look. He was lost.
When work gets muddied with people you love, it gets hard. Not impossible, but difficult for sure. In the end, he left the company. Only two months ago. He died Wednesday morning.
I will remember the good times.
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