A litle over a week ago on July 30th, Jim Parker, a Jeeper and fellow club member of Lone Star Jeep Club, was killed in a tragic accident while wheelin in Ouray, Colorado.

Several LSJC club members were in Colorado attending a Four Wheelin event. On Saturday, the group was travelling down a mountain shelf road, with a 400ft drop off on one side and a 200ft cliff above them on the other. Apparently the area had received a lot of rain recently and by chance a couple off rocks dislodged somewhere overhead and fell towards the Jeeps on the road below.

Two rocks hit Jim's Jeep: a small grapefruit-sized one hit the hood and went straight through it, and a larger and a watermelon-sized one weighing at least 75 lbs landed directly on the top of the Jeep, tore through the bikini top, bent the roll bar, broke his passenger Nancy Ingle's arm, and killed Jim. When he slumped over, Nancy grabbed the wheel and turned the Jeep into the cliff, which subsequently caused the rig to flop over on the side. Her quick thinking prevented the Jeep from driving off the shelf road drop off, which surely would have resulted in two deaths.

I was in total shock, as I'm sure everyone else who knew him was, when I heard the tragic news. It was a freak accident that took the life of one of the most cheerful Jeepers I'd ever met. Every time I went to a Jeep event, Jim was always the first person to walk across the room or the parking lot or wherever and say "Hi" and shake my hand.

On a filming trip to Clayton this past February, Jim had a bit of bad luck and sliced the sidewall on a tire...while I was filming him. Well most people would tend to get upset at that sort of thing, but not Jim. He surveyed the damage, pointed out the rock that got his tire/rockring, smiled, and then grabbed a Hi-Lift Jack and his spare tire. A few minutes later and he was off and running again, smiling ear-to-ear.

Jim was such a great guy; his funeral was a testament to that. His friends and family packed the room and recounted stories of his love for life...especially food, flying, and Jeeps. And fittingly, the funeral procession was a long line of his fellow Jeepers.

Jim may be gone now, but we've got some wonderful footage of him enjoying his Jeep pastime that will definately be in our upcoming Episode 2 DVD, which should be out this fall (tentatively October). Definately check it out, and remember that Jim truly loved his Jeep adventures.

Thanks for the memories, Jim. You're missed by so many.





LINKS:
Ouray County Newspaper Article (several innacuries)
Dallas Morning News Article (good article)
Jim's Obituary in the Dallas Morning News