James "Jimmy" Haschal Hendrick

James (Jimmy) Haschal Hendrick was born in 1946 and recently lost a ten-year battle with cancer. This however does not define a life, only the end. Jim was a husband, a son, a brother and a friend. He was a musician, an entertainer, a carpenter, a cabinetmaker and a pretty good cook. He was preceded in death by his parents, Media and Homer (Hack) Hendrick and his sister, Judy (Allen) Matthews. He leaves to mourn his passing his wife of 28 years, Ricia Sturgeon Hendrick; two sisters, Angela Hendrick and Barbara (Thomas) Dorn, a niece, Melanie Hjellum and nephew, Paul Abrelat. When he married Ricia in 1986 he acquired another family of a grown son, T. Bruce MacKinnon and his wife, Dana, and this family grew to include six grandchildren who called him "coach". In his younger years Jim was a promising musician in the Mobile entertainment field. He played downtown at the Admiral's corner swapping sets with the likes of Jimmy Buffett and Leon Raines. He traveled with Raines' group and later had his own band and played many venues in Mobile. He graduated from the University of South Alabama and taught math and coached baseball for a few years at the Mobile Training School. He loved country music, Frank Sinatra, New York Mets baseball and animals of every kind. While he made a good living playing music he always had a "real job" as a finish carpenter working for many different contractors along the Gulf Coast. For the past thirty years he has been building furniture and cabinetry. Seven years ago he opened his own shop in Coden on Fowl River. He was a talented builder and insisted that a job could only be done with the right tools. He loved to go on cruises and wanted to go on at least one a year. The last vacation with Ricia was to Tahiti at Christmas a few months ago. It was an amazing trip he said he would never forget. Jimmy hated funerals and had to go to too many recently - so there will be no formal service for him. When enough time has passed his friends and family will gather over a good meal, a jug of wine and tell good stories about his life and times. We will definitely play his favorite song, "I Wish Hard Living Didn't Come So Easy For Me."