James Albert O'Rourke

My heart goes out to his family.

My family lived a block away from Jamie, starting in 1960. He and I were pals. We walked to Tatham Elementary, rode the bus to Junior and Senior high schools together, played trombones side by side from 5th through 12th grades. Played in the woods, climbed trees.

He put on magic shows. His father called me "Coolie". I felt the heartbreak of his mother dying.

The last I was in touch with him was 1971, when we wrote letters, he...

Saddened hear of his passing. I met Jim at the US Army Signal Corps Radio Course (0505) at Ft. Monmouth which we attended along with Carl McNutt. He was smart, funny and a good companion.
We visited the Everglades and went skin diving in the Florida Keys before reporting to our respective first duty stations. I truly wanted to meet up with him again over the years either in service or out, but unfortunately it never happened. R.I.P.

Jim and I were room mates for much of our plebe year at West Point. We helped each other through a lot of stuff, because plebe life was sort of like being an on-call slave for the upperclassmen. Jim was quiet, solid, dependable. We'd be standing at rigid attention in our room, with upperclassmen barking orders at us, and I always had the impression that Jim had resolved to be a better upperclassman than those who were snarling at us. And I think he was. I don't know that Jim had any...

Sue, I am so sorry that Jim finally lost his battle with that terrible disease. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Oh Sue, I am so sorry for your loss. His presence in the neighborhood will be missed. Hugs to you.

Very sorry for your loss. Remember Jim working on the farm growing up. He was a wonderful person.

I was a classmate of Jim's in evening classes in the Irish language at Elms College maybe 8 or 10 years ago, for a couple of years. He was a serious student, but always with a twist of humor. For a short while he was one of a group that met outside class to practice the super-challenging Irish language grammar, until the day he decided it wasn't for him, and he would switch to German. I see here that he continued in those studies with the same drive that he brought to Irish. I'm so sorry...

Jim and I were classmates in elementary school. He was a private, kind, and very intelligent guy who was a good friend in my youth. Sadly, we lost track of each other in the busy-ness of professional and adult personal lives. Happily, we had reconnected late in our adult years and often exchanged notes. Only a month ago, we last communicated about his new treatment plan for dealing with his multiple myeloma. I will treasure that hand written now and carry on for him, our shared interest...