In preparing for this, I asked family members and several of Jamie’s close friends to try to put in words what Jamie meant to all of us. However, every time we tried to define something specific it always led to another hilarious story that demonstrated Jamie’s character.

Jamie had a unique perspective on life that touched us all. He was able to find humor in virtually every situation. Although some stories cannot be mentioned here today, I would like to share some of them with you and let Jamie touch you once again.

Jamie was a son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and most of all a friend. His personality can be described with many adjectives: he was witty….he always had a comment about any situation; he was generous….he was always there to help no matter what or who the situation; he was a perfectionist which showed in everything he did and he was wise beyond his years. But occasionally you would swear he was having a blonde moment. But if one word could describe Jamie’s personality, it would have been stubborn!!.

An example of this is the Santa Clause story. This occurred when Jamie and Danielle Alix were no more than five or six. They were walking along one July afternoon when the conversation turned to Santa Claus and they decided that they should go see Santa Claus, who for some reason, happened to be in Coderre. Perhaps he was doing some early Christmas Shopping. Jamie decided that they were going and proceeded to take Emile’s little Toyota truck. However he mistook ‘R’ for ‘D’ and back in to the fuel tanks. Danielle ran in the trailer and made sure the Vicki new it was Jamie and not her that had instigated this plan.

As a child, Vicki has to ensure that none of the food on Jamie’s plate touched, and that the peanut butter on this toast did not touch the crust or he would literally have a fit. As he got older his eating habits changed but they did not lessen. Jamie would eat just about anything, from fried poplar leaf sandwiches, fighting the dog for the occasional Gaines burger or ‘baker’s chocolate,’ better known as EXLAX!!!! Providing of course there was always a lot of ketchup!!!!

Although school was not Jamie’s first love and showed every morning with the fight to get him there he none the less overcame this and went on to excel at program of autobody repair at SIAST in Moose Jaw.

In case any of you are wondering where Jamie’s love of mechanics and machines (especially fast one!) came from, it started at an early age. Jamie and Jason had a plastic toy tractor that they used to pedal around the shop. One day Emile was fixing his tractor in the shop and in order to do this he literally had to split the tractor apart. Of course Jamie was there to watch him do it. The next day when Emile came home from town he found the toy tractor in the middle of the shop with a hacksaw buried ¾ of the way through it as Jamie and Jason were attempting their own repairs!!

From tractors, Jamie and Jason moved on to plastic motorcycles and virtually wore the wheels off by racing around the trailer. This must be where his love of racing started. Jamie never feared taking risks—be it from Jason pushing him in his stroller and landing face first on the shop floor, rolling down a hill in a culvert or simply turning the dryer on fluff and jumping in for fun!!! This need for risk lead him to build a 100’ triple jump at the local motocross track at Coderre, which he just completed but unfortunately did not get a chance to try.

When Jamie started something, he never did it half way! He put his heart and soul into it! This was apparent in his racing, his work and his night life…. And let me tell you HE HAD A NIGHT LIFE!!
Unless of course his uncles were switching his beverages.

A special memory for me is how Jamie got his nick name Zuggie! When Jamie was first learning to talk he would come up to me when I was visiting and say: ‘Zuggie come and play, Zuggie come and play!’ We finally realized that this was his way of saying Kelly and it slowly got turned around so he was now called Zuggie.
In preparing for this, each of you had a special story about Jamie but unfortunately today we don’t have time to cover all of them but I ask that you cherish and share these stories so that Jamie will continue to bringing a smile to our faces. There is however one more story that I would like to share with you at this time. It was written by Kris Clappison who is a very close friend of Jason and Jamie’s and who was like another son to Vicki. I think this shows how Vicki and Jamie touched so many people.

My deepest regrets to Jason and Emile….I love you both. I would like to talk about Jamie and Vicki for a minute. Jamie was always the kind of guy who would do anything for anyone because he was all heart. He loved motorbikes or anything with wheels. He was an excellent friend and fun to be around and I will miss him greatly.
Vicki…she was a loving caring and sharing person just like Jamie. I never knew her to lose her temper and was always there for her family and friends. She always welcomed anyone whether it was just on or the entire town of Coderre; everyone was welcomed with open arms. I love you Jamie as a friend as well as a brother. Vicki as a friend as well as a mother because they all made me feel like I was one of them from the beginning to the end. You both will never be forgotten.

I love you all. Kris.

At times like these your perspective changes and you find symbolism in many things. As I stood on the deck at Emile’s Thursday night a meteorite passed overhead and I realized that is Jamie….A SHOOTING STAR! He lived his life by this motto….”It is better to burn out than fade away!”

Kelly Richmond