I met Jim Lynch in the fourth grade at Jefferson School. We remained friends for the rest of our lives until he left us. There were years of interruptions but when we reconnected, each time it was as though we had spoken just the day before. From the beginning everything we did together was fun. There was always a lot of laughter and that big smile on Jim’s face.   The first time I had dinner at the Lynch house, Jim poured salt in his mother’s coffee when she wasn’t looking. She winced when she took a sip and then laughingly blamed Jim’s older brother, Bill. Jim just smiled that big smile.    At Jefferson one day coming back into the building from recess, Jim spit on the sidewalk. (We were all in the “little boys spitting” phase in those days.) The sixth grade teacher, Ms Oleman (sp?), the playground monitor, immediately accused me of doing it and sent me to Mr. Rogers’ office, the principal. (No, not that Mr Rogers.) I explained the situation and said I hadn’t done it. After making me deny it 3-4 more times, he sighed and said he guessed it wouldn’t do any good to ask me who did do it. I said no. I was sent out into the outer office for a few minutes to reconsider and then sent back to the classroom. I saw Jim as soon as I returned. He just looked at me and gave me that big smile. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?    Jim was a very fine athlete. He just understood the sports sooner and better than the rest of us and was blessed with  more natural talent. In fifth grade we were allowed to play football but not basketball. Basketball had to wait until sixth grade. I still don’t get that. Anyway, in fifth grade Jim Daniell’s Dad coached the Jefferson football team and right away correctly assessed the talent. Jim Daniell was  installed as the quarterback and Jim Lynch was made the starting halfback, both ahead of all the sixth graders. As a halfback, Jim was very fast and very elusive. He was also very determined. He scored almost all of our touchdowns that year and the next. I’ll never forget one of them. Jim got around the left corner and started down our sideline with a guy from the other team on his heels. Mr Daniell ran along side him just out of bounds yelling in Jim’s ear to run faster. I won’t quote exactly what he said to avoid an R rating, but you get the idea. After Jim scored, he came back to our huddle with that big smile on his face, and I’ll never forget his words. He said: “I was more scared of Mr Daniell than the guy chasing me.” We all cracked up. We also nodded our heads in full agreement.    In sixth grade basketball Jim was the point guard. He brought the ball up the court and either drove to the basket or shot from 12-15 feet out. None of the rest of us knew what to do with the ball if it came to us, so we were happy to watch  Jim shred the defenses and score. I think we won every game that year. At that level, teams rarely scored more than 6-8 points a game. Jim averaged about 10.    One day after high school basketball practice, I was walking home with Jim and Charlie Cobaugh, as I did probably 100 times junior and senior year. We went out the back of the high school and got past the tennis courts to that long concrete ramp that went steeply down to the football field. The only problem was that it was snowing and the ramp was covered in ice. Jim was like a gazelle sliding down to the bottom. Charlie had a bit of trouble here and there but he too made it to the bottom upright. I made it maybe fifty feet when my legs went out from under me. I slid the rest of the way on the back of my neck. I had a semester’s worth of books, notes and papers cradled in my arms at the top of the ramp. They went flying all over the place when I threw my arms up to try to regain my balance. When I looked up at the bottom, it was snowing books and papers and Charlie and Jim were bent over double laughing. I joined them. After a couple of minutes, Charlie and I recovered enough to start gathering everything up. I looked over and Jim was on his back in the snow still laughing uncontrollably. Finally he recovered and, you guessed it, gave me that big smile, pure joy on his face. That’s how I choose to remember Jim.    Jim remained a talented high school basketball player, but somewhere along the way he discovered golf. I remember going to South Hills Country Club with Jim and Lex Gray the summer after sophomore year when we were 16. They were both really good. I just walked around with them. Jim shot a 76 that day and narrowly missed a hole in one on a par 3. We thought the ball was in the hole and ran up to see. The ball mark was one inch from the hole and the ball lay just behind the hole. Jim tapped it in for a birdie. Jim went on to captain the golf team at Mt Lebanon and become one of the best players in WPIAL history, earning a golf scholarship to Bradley University. After a year, Jim transferred to Maryland, again on a golf scholarship, where his high school sweetheart and future wife, Diane Kessler, Lebo class of ’61, had gone two years earlier. He then made the PGA tour. Lex once told me that from tee to green Jim struck the ball as well as anyone on the tour.    Jim and Diane were wed in 1965 and married for 56 years. They had a son and daughter and three granddaughters, all living in southern California. Near the end Diane asked Jim the first thing he was going to do when he got to heaven. Without hesitation, he said: “Play a round of golf with Arnold Palmer.” I’ll bet he gave Arnie a run for his money.    Jim Lynch was my friend. I loved him like a brother, and I will miss him every day. I hope I get to heaven, because the first thing I’m going to do is carry his bag while he plays another round with Arnie.   God saw he was getting tired. A cure was not to be. So he wrapped His arms around him and whispered “Come with Me.” His spirit and faith did not bend. He faced his pain with courage until the very end. He tried so hard to stay with us, but a golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best.