In Memory...

The following tribute was written by James Lindeman.

As I’m sure some of you know by now, we lost a classmate and friend last week. Jamison Christopher Woods, known to us all as "Jamo", passed away in his sleep at his home in Hermitage, TN. on May 08, 2008. Survivors include his wife, Betsy Crouch Woods; his son, Jamison Isaac Woods, 5, and daughter, Eva Elizabeth Woods, 2; mother and step-father, Deborah and Sam Wright of Jonesboro, AR; father and step-mother, James and Debbie Woods of Batesville, AR; brother, Mathew Woods of Russell, AR; sister, Lenna Woods of Jonesboro, AR; step-sister, Britney Warner of Batesville, AR; grandparents, Thomas and Marian Woods and Herbert and Charlene Smith of Memphis, TN; father-in-law and mother-in law, Jack and Susanne Crouch of Nashville, TN.

I don’t know that I’m qualified to describe Jamo’s life to anyone. My hope is to say a few words and express a few thoughts, so that we may remember someone who touched our lives. From the pages of online entries in his obituary guest book, it is obvious he impacted many of us. What Jamo didn’t have in stature, he made up for with charisma and personality. To the girls, if he didn’t date you, you were probably on his list. And to the guys, if he wasn’t figuring out a way to talk to your girl, consider yourself lucky. Jamo had a way with the opposite sex unlike most. Maybe his love of mirrors convinced him he was truly Casanova, who knows? Besides his charm, Jamo excelled both academically and athletically. In the classroom, you could always find Jamo in the toughest classes JHS had to offer. On the field, baseball was his sport. Jamo played city and county ball from grade school all the way through high school.

Some people might not remember this, but Jamo actually chose to graduate with our class. In elementary school, Jamo was advanced enough to skip the 2nd grade. That, coupled with his late June birthday, had him on course to be the youngest member of the 1987 graduating class. When all of us were moving up to the high school, Jamo decided to delay taking his 11th grade English. Instead, he took extra electives, allowing him to graduate with our class. After high school, Jamo went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Arkansas State University and a master’s degree in Counseling and Rehabilitation from Middle Tennessee State University. At the time of his death, he was working in the Medicare Finance Administration for the state of TN. He married his wife Betsy in the summer of 1998 and they had two small children; a son, Jamison and daughter, Eva.

It's hard to understand the "why" with this one. He was our age, with a family, and what should have been lots of life to live. Most of us have families of our own now, and our circle of friends is much smaller than it ever was. I'm also guessing that most of the teenaged vanity is gone and that we’ve put our priorities in perspective. I went to Jamo's funeral and seeing Jamison's family celebrate his life and witnessing the impact he had made on others was not only a privilege but also a testament to what’s truly important.

He will be missed.

[You can visit his guest book here.]