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James Francis "Jimmy" Meyer Jr.

FUNERAL HOME

Hardesty Funeral Home - Galesville

905 Galesville Road

Galesville, Maryland

James Meyer Obituary

Born at home in Lothian on January 4, 1983, died in Baltimore on January 13, 2017. He is survived by his father, James Francis Meyer of Lothian, his mother Peggy Meyer of Annapolis, and his siblings Peter Meyer of Pennsylvania, Rachel Meyer of Arnold, Robyna Meyer Hill of Severna Park, Mary Meyer Quintanilla of Brookeville, Alice Meyer Cardenas of Annapolis, his nephew Aidan Jaschik of Brooklyn Park, and many other relatives. Many of his family's earliest memories are of him traipsing through the woods, perfectly content. He loved the solace and nourishment of the outdoors, whether hunting, fishing or camping. From childhood on, he was gifted at fixing broken things. He was a skilled carpenter, always precise and artistic in his vision. Jimmy had a great amount of love to give; at his best he was affectionate and generous. He had a kind soul. His family loved him deeply and wished for him nothing more than peace and happiness. But all the love in the world is insufficient against the ravages of addiction. His family desires that those who knew him remember him for who he truly was, not for the symptoms of the disease that claimed him. Privates services by Hardesty Funeral Home in Galesville. A memorial mass will be held at Our Lady of Sorrows in West River on Friday February 3 at noon. Reception to follow mass. In lieu of flowers, please take a walk in the woods and think of Jimmy, or send a contribution in his memory to the Savage River Watershed Association, P.O. Box 355 Frostburg, MD 21532.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Capital Gazette on Jan. 17, 2017.

Memories and Condolences
for James Meyer

37 Entries

Karen Foreman

July 15, 2018

I just learned today of Jimmy's passing...What a powerful and moving eulogy given by his siblings.. While I only met Jimmy "Little Jim" a few times, he was always kind and gracious. Much love and prayers to all the Meyer family...

Jimmy's Siblings

August 2, 2017

In the beginning, James Francis Meyer, Jr. was Baby Jim, the fifth of six children. But, regardless of birth order, he refused to fade into the melting pot of our large family. He experienced every emotion fully; every wound to his pride was painful; every joy was infectious. He felt frustration deeply, but he loved even deeper.

Even as one of the youngest, he looked out for us.

One of my earliest memories of him was on a cold winter's night. I was taking a bath. We didn't have a shower, we had an old fashioned claw foot tub, and on nights like that even hot water couldn't warm you. The only real heat was from a portable -plug in- electric heater glowing cherry red.

I must have been around 9 or 10 and Baby Jim was 2 or 3. He wandered into the bathroom and clung to the edge of the tub watching me. He saw how cold and miserable I was, and, being Jimmy, he recognized pain, and knew he had to help.

I had just slid down on my back in the water, rinsing off, and looking up, when I saw this warm orange glow filling the air above the tub. I craned my head up and looked over the edge of the tub just in time to see the electric heater falling towards me. I jumped out of the water as quick as I could and that heater hit the water as my foot left it and a blue electric shimmer danced on the water. Baby Jim stood there smiling at me, proud of himself for helping, and for being so clever. For taking such good care of me.

He knew from day one what was good, better, and best. He knew what he wanted and how he wanted things to be. Like an image in his mind, he saw the way in which something should be and he worked toward getting it. There was very little wiggle room in his expectations. He wanted it right.

Like a lot of boys, he went through a cowboy phase, and of course every cowboy needs to dress the part, so Mom agreed to get him an authentic shirt. Mom being Mom she took this 5 year old kid to Carol's Western Apparel where, certainly, the best authentic western fashion in Maryland could be found. After running around the store for awhile, Baby Jim told mom "they don't have any good shirts." So she took him to a couple more stores until finally, at a Kmart or Goodwill or something, he had found the perfect one. And he was right - he looked great in that shirt. He was able to be the self-reliant cowboy of his imagination: rugged and strong and independent. We've looked at a lot of old photos recently, and we've probably all shared the same pained smile at the photos of baby Jim in his western wear: No doubt, our little cowboy picked the right shirt that day.

In those years he was also unruly, and learning how to handle a temper. He didn't like being corralled or directed. When I was 14 or so and Baby Jim was maybe 7, I had an older friend with a truck. This friend stopped by one day, and I told Baby Jim to stay in the house. My friend pulled up to the front of the house and jumped out of his Ford Ranger and we leaned on the truck chatting. In the corner of my eye I could see a little face flitting from window to window inside, watching us. A few minutes later, suddenly, something flew by our heads. We turned around and up on the porch roof was Baby Jim with his little bow and arrows, buck naked. He had crawled out a bedroom window to launch his attack on the person who had dared tell him no.' He started shrieking like a savage and launching arrows down at the truck. I can't remember how we got out of range a ways, but Baby Jim was like an Indian at Little Bighorn defeating Custer. It didn't matter that he was outnumbered; he had determination in his bones, and he showed up for the fight with grit, jumping around on that roof laughing and waving his bow in the air. I had told him to stay on the reservation and for no good reason, but he showed us.

That name, Baby Jim, stuck, without even being thought about until he was maybe 6 or 7. One day that name hit his ear in a new way and he wasn't having anymore of it. After that, you called him Baby Jim at your peril, or on purpose to needle him. But you were careful, because you knew he wasn't afraid to take on someone bigger.

From then on he was Jimmy. He was restless in his curiosity. He raged against his frustrations. The world was limitless. More than anyone else I've ever known, he instinctively understood the refuge of the quiet woods, or the comfort that comes from feeling the solid earth under your back. Jimmy wasn't afraid of anything, he had a truly independent spirit, and he was good at whatever he set out to do. He might decide one evening he was going to sleep in the woods like an Indian, with maybe just a bed of leaves between him and the earth. And he would. Not with much help from anyone or fuss about anything...he would just go do it, maybe with a little fire for company. He loved hunting and fishing, and was out in the woods probably more than he was inside. He was fearless on the vines over the gorge in the woods, swinging like Tarzan from one side to the other. He was forged there on the farm, and in the woods, where he grew up.

If you ask us, that's what we remember - that's the Jimmy who survives in our DNA and who lives in our memories.

Maybe it's naive, but I think sometimes that if he could have stayed the Indian in the woods, he'd have been spared a lot of the restlessness that followed.

Whatever regrets and frustrations any of us have about our relationship with Jimmy, there's some solace in knowing that he came into this world a complicated kid, and that he lived his life not by anyone else's rules or expectations.

Many of you know him better as James. James is what he would want us to call him, I'm pretty sure. James is the one who laid drywall, framed houses, and built stairs without a blueprint. He was a perfectionist with his work, preferring not to finish something if he couldn't do it right. Good enough wasn't in his vocabulary. He genuinely enjoyed making something beautiful. He had pride in knowing he had left something more perfect than when he found it.

James worked with our dad for a long time, and even with me for a couple of years. Both my dad and I would probably describe those years as ones in which we butted heads with James more than a few times. But not in million years would we take them back now. If it's not clear by now, I'll just say it: Jimmy, or James, was hard to love sometimes. He didn't make it easy. Nothing about him was ever easy.

But the funny thing was that, ironically, he probably found it easier to love others than to accept being loved himself.

He loved strongly. He did pretty much everything forcefully. I think sometimes that he may have loved so deeply that it hurt him. The last conversation he had with one of us siblings was over the phone, where he insisted, using colorful language, that we couldn't know the extent to which he loved us. The love he talked about seemed to be interwoven with agony. He couldn't express one without the other. My sister was emphatic with him - telling him that he was loved just as much, in return. But he seemed unwilling or unable to hear the words.

So here we all are today, gathered together, not all of us knowing the others, to express, or just to listen, to a couple of stories that can never quite sum up the whole of his existence. But we can affirm that existence; we can say it to him again - in our actions, with our words, that you were loved beyond measure, Jimmy.

The cowboy shirt is gone. Lost in the woods or worn away to a rag - it doesn't matter. It doesn't fit anymore. Well, maybe it does. If it were made for a boy who would grow up chafing against a family and a world that kept him bound; a man who could build a fire without matches or a shelter with his bare hands; if it were made to fit a man who was complicated, willful and curious, and compassionate toward those who were weaker, well, I guess you could say it still fits.

Steven & May Buckingham

February 6, 2017

Our deepest condolence.

Elena Albaugh

February 3, 2017

Your California cousins are thinking of you and your family during this time of loss. We know Jimmy is in heaven traipsing through the woods. We're sending prayers your way.

Phillip Rybak

February 2, 2017

I want to send my love to the Meyer family at this time.
I have memories of playing with Jimmy as a young kid at the farm. He once lent me a pair of tall rain boots, (he owned more than one pair), and we spent the whole day in the wood and in the fields, walking through muck and puddles, just getting muddy, it was the best. From then on at my house I wore my winter boots in the middle of the summer to go exploring in the woods, because it was cool. I recall Jimmy being charitable and on the quiet side, and always very curious. He was good at decision making, he never said maybe, his answers were a strong yes or no and I admired that about him. Over a decade went by and we hadn't seen each other since teenage years when I ran into him at Safeway in Severna Park. I worked there as a meat cutter and a man was asking me a recommendation for a good steak and as I was talking about a certain cut of meat and he said... Are you Phil Rybak? It took me a second but then I recognized him. Jimmy Meyer? I gave him a huge hug and he genuinely cared to hear about how I got into meat cutting. I hope he knows I continue wearing my boots with shorts and that will never change. Rest in peace Jimmy, thank you for the "original" wardrobe example that carried on.

Maria Rybak

February 2, 2017

Words cannot express the sadness I feel signing this book. I have so many memories with child/teen Jimmy. But what stands out to me the most is his sensitivity and his kind heart. I can recall playing cards on rainy days at the house with he and Mary and Alice, eating Lemon Heads from the "little store" and sitting on the front porch on summer evenings listening to Bob Marley blasting from the front sitting room. I remember his pride when he got a large shipment of baby chicks. The first night they were there a raccoon got a couple. He spent the whole next day reinforcing the structure they were kept in, setting traps, and he planed on sitting outside half the night with a golf club to ensure his baby chicks were safe. I remember how sparkly his eyes were, and how he had the best smile. I can hear his laugh if I think about it. He had a great sense of humor and he loved his family. Miss you Jimmy! Sending my love to the entire Meyer family during this very tough time.

Marion Siberon

February 1, 2017

Peggy - My deepest condolences to you and your family. May you find peace and comfort among the memories.

Barbara Johnson

January 30, 2017

Godspeed, Jimmy. May your spirit infuse all of Nature, with which your life and love was so brilliantly connected.

Barbara Johnson

January 30, 2017

I clearly recall being struck, meeting Jimmy for the first time. He was about nine years old, at a park playground with a group of other kids and their families. He was raptly describing to my friend Barbara Klein some discovery he'd made in the woods. He was a beautiful and marvelous and unusual boy-- intense and wiry, like someone from another century who'd grown up in the wilderness. He was enormously interested in wildlife, and he clearly appreciated that Barbara was a fellow nature lover. Later I visited the Meyer's house in Lothian, and Jimmy invited some of us to see his upstairs bedroom, which looked like a natural history museum-- turtle shells, snake skins, rocks, wasps' nests-- a shrine to all the days he'd spent wandering and absorbing nature.

I always loved being around Jimmy as he grew up. We shared of love of animals and nature, and he was so curious and knowledgeable--I always learned something new. As a man, he helped to build the house we live in, and I was always delighted to see him on the job-- both because he was such a fine craftsman, and because I so enjoyed our conversations, which still often involved plants or animals or ecology. He sometimes shared about his struggles, and he wanted and hoped very much to be free and in charge of his life.

I know that all you who loved Jimmy as a son, brother, uncle and friend will miss that incandescent smile and that sweet, connected spirit that shone out of him. I feel lucky to have known him. I send love and wishes for comfort during your grief and healing.

Kelly Rhue

January 24, 2017

So sorry for your loss. I hope that your memories will give you comfort during this difficulty time. Lots of love

Shari Smoot

January 22, 2017

We are so very sorry for your loss. You are in our thoughts and prayers! Life is so hard sometimes!

Brian Coleman

January 21, 2017

I saw James through some hardships a few years ago and he came with me on a three day, 10 mile canoeing camping trip. He amazed me by the amount of knowledge he had when it came to being in the outdoors. Not to mention how he manned that canoe and our gear by himself as my nephew and I paddled a canoe along side him. Shortly after that trip he started working for an electric company with my roommate of that time. Therefore James was at my house on the regular. Usually unannounced visits but his company was always appreciated! He even came with me on a Charter Fishing trip on my 30th birthday. We had a blast that day! And he would also stop in frequently to see me while I was at work. He was a damn good friend to me and he will surely be missed! I had hoped that he was going to come stay with me for a while in the Pacific Northwest but I guess I'll have to wait till I get to where he's gone too. My deepest sympathy to his family and other friends. Goodbye friend, till we meet again.

Shatara Young

January 20, 2017

James was a wonderful person full energy and with lots of love to give to anyone that encountered him he was a great person and I loved him dearly Rip James your in a better place now. I send my condolences and love to the family and will be in touch Shatara

Will Small

January 20, 2017

Jim's light will continue to shine in my thoughts.

Kim Marable Lewis

January 20, 2017

So terribly sorry for your loss! Jimmy was a great person! He will be missed. Love to you all. You all are in my thoughts and prayers.

January 20, 2017

January 19, 2017

Peggy, you and your family are in our hearts and prayers. Love, Sonya and John

January 19, 2017

Miss you buddy

The Meyer Family

January 19, 2017

From Jimmy's Family:
Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts and communications. We have read and re-read each of your messages. They give us comfort and a feeling of peace, for which we are eternally grateful. Thank you all for your love for Jimmy and for our family.

Adrian Perez

January 19, 2017

God has you in glory

The Lord is my pillar, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

Psalm 18:2

Ashley Richardson (CACI)

January 19, 2017

My deepest sympathies go out to you and your family. May God give you the peace that you seek.

Donna Crane

January 19, 2017

Missing you deeply. Rest in peace Jimmy. I love you forever.

January 18, 2017

To the Meyer family. We are so sorry for your loss. When you look around, you and your family can see and feel the love, care and support from others, also remember that God is always ready to answer our prayers. Philippians 4:6, 7 says in part "in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God; and the peace of God that excels all thought will guard your hearts."

Mariah Smith

January 18, 2017

Knowing Jim was truly a blessing , he was a great person and certainly made a impact on my life that will never be forgotten. I'll always keep him close in my heart.

JImmy & Mary

Robyna Hill

January 17, 2017

Jimmy when he was about 17

Robyna Hill

January 17, 2017

Precious Baby Jim

Robyna Hill

January 17, 2017

Sending my deepest condolences to your and your family May God bless you and keep you..

Kizzy Jones (CACI Security)

Donna Crane

January 17, 2017

I will miss you kind heart and brilliant mind. You were always kind to my daughter, and we will miss you deeply. I love you, we love you.

Robin Green

January 17, 2017

James did some work on my house and we became friends easily. I hadn't talked to him in some time and am surprised he is gone. I will remember him as a master carpenter who was kind and intelligent. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.

Devin Dunham

January 17, 2017

My husband and I grew very close to James while he worked on our house. We knew he was a very special person. He was insightful, articulate, and intelligent. The work he did was precise and beautiful. He was a hard worker, honest, and endearing. After the job, he remained our friend and attended family events. We are deeply shocked and sad to hear of his passing. We will miss James, always.

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