James Wallace Sockwell

Jim was born on August 3, 1936, in Sheffield, Alabama, to Wallace Lester Sockwell and Mary Jacobs Sockwell. His father worked for the telephone company, and his mother was a teacher. From an early age, Jim was a devoted brother and helper to his sister, Molly Catherine, who was severely disabled.

The family moved to Mobile when Jim was school-aged, and he called it home for the rest of his life. He attended Barton Academy and Murphy High School, where he sang in the Glee Club, wrote for the Mohian, and participated in many academic clubs. He graduated in 1953.

He began college at the University of Alabama, where he joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity and initially majored in pre-med, a decision he soon realized was not a good fit. After his second semester, he left school and enlisted in the United States Army for a two-year commitment. He returned to Alabama in the fall of 1957, changing his major to Chemical Engineering and rejoining his fraternity brothers.

It was at dinner at the Delt house that Jim met Joyce, who had come to pitch a fundraiser for a campus group – though Jim, by his own admission, was far more taken with Joyce than with her cause. He soon learned, to his surprise, that the young woman he intended to ask out was a fraternity brother’s sister, and that boy was protective. Undeterred, Jim asked Joyce to go to the picture show with him, and their courtship began. They became engaged on September 18, 1959, and were married at Woodlawn Methodist Church in Birmingham on June 18, 1960, just weeks after Jim’s graduation. Roll Tide!

Two days later, Jim started work at Scott Paper Company. Over the next several years, he and Joyce welcomed three daughters and built the family that would remain at the center of his life. Jim was a devoted and involved father who rarely missed a special event with his children. He served as treasurer, and later president, of the Mary B. Austin PTA. He was in the crowd when the family’s “Heinz 57” dog won a ribbon at the school talent show, and he sat through more dance recitals and band performances than he could remember. He was a perfect “girl dad.”

In 1966, Jim joined Vans Photo at the invitation of his friend and fellow church member Jimmy Bledsoe. Here, Jim’s engineering mind and his gift for people served him equally well. For more than twenty years, the work became a career and part of his identity, and the Vans friends became family.

When his time at Vans ended, Jim found a new calling: he became the financial administrator of the church he had grown up in. On his very first walkthrough of the building, he came home shaking his head and asked Joyce, “Do you have any idea how many bathrooms there are in that church?”

It was a fitting turn for a man who had spent his life showing up – at fraternity dinners, PTA meetings, deer camp, church pews, and the bleachers for every Murphy High School football halftime show. Jim measured his days by who he showed up for, and he passed that legacy to his children. Jim was endlessly supportive, encouraging, and positive, and everyone in his orbit knew they could count on his unwavering loyalty and love.

Outside of work, Jim enjoyed deer hunting in the fall and turkey hunting in the spring. The Myers’ family hunting camp in Barlow Bend, Clarke County, became a special place to Jim. He loved taking his grandsons to the camp and sharing his appreciation for the outdoors with them. Many of his closest friendships grew from years spent hunting, cooking and sharing stories with his hunting buddies.

Jim was also an avid barbecue cook, famous within the family for ribs they believed were better than anything a restaurant could serve. After retirement, he used that talent to serve others, smoking barbecue once a month through the church for Meals on Wheels recipients.

Jim was preceded in death, just two weeks earlier, by his beloved oldest daughter, Debra “Debbie” Sockwell Tarbox, who died on September 1, 2026; his parents, Wallace Lester and Mary Jacobs Sockwell; and his sister, Molly Catherine Sockwell.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joyce Wilson Sockwell; his daughters, Leslie Sockwell Louden and Janet Sockwell Turner and her husband, Perry; and his son-in-law, George Tarbox.

He is also survived by nine grandchildren: James Tarbox and his wife, Mallorie; Travis Tarbox and his wife, Amy; Justin Tarbox and his wife, Sarah; Logan Tarbox and his wife, Cassie; Thomas Louden; Emily Louden; Sarah Turner; Abby Turner; and Mollie Turner.

He is also survived by four great-grandchildren: Henry Tarbox, Mary Helen Tarbox, Emma James Tarbox and Charles “Chip” Tarbox.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 21, 2026, at Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. A lunch reception will be held at the church following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the Society of St. Stephen at Dauphin Way, or to Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, to support its ongoing missions in the community, at 1507 Dauphin Street, Mobile, Alabama 36604.