James West

Those of you who know Jimmy know a person who is kind, gentle, friendly, calm, humorous, reliable, fun and an entrepreneur. As his younger brother, I looked up to him as a role model. If he did it, It was blueprint for what I needed to do. His school achievements, print shop, going to college, his friendships, recreational bike riding, the list goes on, are all things I did and learned because he broke the ice for me, and that pretty much carried through my whole life. He taught me to drive on his stick shift Karmann Ghias. I was proud to be his brother, even if it wasn’t always easy, because he really set the bar high! A little later in our lives he helped me out by giving me a job for a weekend, which ended up lasting 8 years. So as my boss I can also tell you he was also fair, and knowledgeable and inspirational, and fun. I loved working with him.

I thought I’d share a few memories of him from our childhood.

He received a “junior” printing press as a gift when he was a teenager. Most kids would have used it for a couple days to print a note or two, before running out of ideas or getting bored with it. Not Jimmy, he printed business cards for himself, and me, and our Mom, and Opa and Oma. He printed things for his friends, he printed Christmas cards, I remember one where the front had 25 characters of the alphabet, and on the inside it said “No ‘L’”. He “might” have printed fake tickets to put on cars whose drivers had questionable parking skills, he even printed money for when he had his own country. He ran his printing activities like a business with scheduling and proofing, and come to think of it, I guess I worked for him earlier than I remembered! He later took print shop in high school, and his printing business expanded. When his best friend ran for student body, he printed flyers and campaign buttons. He printed a monthly underground newspaper, (it was the sixties after all). Then later, he published a book on how to publish an underground newspaper. That, was pure Jimmy.

He went on a summer trip to Europe with Opa and Oma, and he came home with a scrap book he made of all the different types of toilet paper he encountered. One had a watermarked logo, some were as rough as sandpaper, Morocco used cut up squares of newsprint. He was impressed by the many beautiful cathedrals he saw, and he decided to make his own out of cardboard. It was beautiful, it had stained glass windows, and gorgeous gothic walkways, he made the organ out of soda straws, this thing was a work of art! He used it in his portfolio to apply to Cal Arts.

Jimmy was not big on conventional sports, mostly he didn’t have time for it. He did walk to high school about a mile and a half each direction. When we moved to Westchester, he would ride his bike back to visit his friends near Silver Lake. On weekends he would go on long walks, then organized friends to go on walks with him. He formed a group he called the SSSS, (Saturday and Sunday Strolling Society). They would walk to the Santa Monica pier, or Descanso Gardens, among other places, 15-20 miles away. This was when he was about 16. Jimmy just had a way of doing things on a grand scale.

Our age difference prevented us from being pals, but it did not prevent us from being tight. He absolutely was my role model and hero. He broke ground for me and I would follow in his footsteps, Big footsteps. I could never fullly match his accomplishments, but I was always inspired to try. I could not have asked for a better brother.