Thoughts of Jim Chaffin's passing

Picture by Michelle Prescott-Guederian.

The local sheepdog community lost a good man in Jim Chaffin on Tuesday, November 8, 2011. We attended his memorial service this past weekend. It was a celebration of Jim's life. The picture above is of a print of Jim and Lola at one of their trials. Jim's crook is on one side and his whistle is on hanging on the other side. The epitome of a shepherd in his retirement years.

The Jim that we knew was patient with his dogs and very protective of the livestock. He always thought that the livestock should be treated fairly.

Here is Jim at their last trial. He was so happy having all of us trialers as his guests. Little did we know that this would be our last time to see Jim. I am so glad that he was so happy at this time. Steve and I are so happy that we stopped at the house on our way out to say good by to Jim one last time. We will miss you so much, Jim.

Jim and Lola both worked so hard to present one of the premier trials in our area. Their sheep have always been some of the best sheep in the area to trial on. Every group of sheep were even and you knew that your draw was equal to anyone else's.
In attending Jim's memorial we learned so much more about Jim's life. We didn't realize that he served in the air force. I never knew that he used to ride horses and that he was a bowler. We knew that he was a retired teacher, what we didn't know is that he was key in setting up a program for problem children in their school district. I also didn't know that they had so many foster children over the years........17 to be exact. So many things that made Jim, and Lola too, such good people.
I am so glad to have been able to call Jim a friend, so privileged to know Jim.
Jim may you RIP and we will all miss you.