James Grinnan Cannon

James Grinnan Cannon - Jim, Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, and friend to those who knew and loved him - was a happy family man, a faithful Roman Catholic, and a proud West Virginian.

Born in Grafton, West Virginia on September 12, 1935 to Mary Etta Grinnan Cannon and William Patrick Cannon, Jim was the baby in a family of seven children. The Cannons moved to the tiny mountain town of Rowlesburg, West Virginia when Jim was four years old. Growing up, he hunted in the mountains, fished in the Cheat River, and made more mischief than you might think possible. He also played varsity football, baseball, and basketball for the Rowlesburg High School River Lions, and to this day, the folks in Rowlesburg remember Jim's buzzer-defying, game-winning, half-court shot against the Rowlesburg basketball team's arch rival.

The close, caring bonds of small town life shaped Jim's childhood, and as he got older, he grew into a man who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Always one to offer help, he was a young volunteer fireman in Rowlesburg and served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1957, where he drove for four-star General Henry Irving Hodes - a gig he got by offering to drive the General's wife to Mass each week.

After receiving a WWII Army Occupation Medal, a Distinguished Service Medal, and even, surprisingly, a Good Conduct Medal, Jim returned home and began college at Potomac State on the G.I. Bill. After a semester, however, he quit college and got a job in Washington, D.C. to help support his mom back home in Rowlesburg.

On one of his many trips to and from home to D.C., he happened to give a ride to Betty DeWitt, a dark-haired beauty whose family also lived in Rowlesburg, and whose older brothers had played ball with Jim growing up. The two quickly fell in love, and they wed in February, 1960 and moved to Manassas, Virginia.

Betty and Jim joined All Saints Catholic Church, and soon, Fran, their only child, was born. And did Jim ever love her - with everything in his heart, with all he had and hoped, and with everything he was. When she was growing up, he always encouraged her to be her tomboy self, watching and playing football with her no matter how tired he was from working all day. He signed her up for soccer and became her coach from third grade through high school, reading books and attending trainings on a sport he'd previously known nothing about. He came to all the games for every sport she ever played, every concert and play she was ever in, and every award and graduation ceremony she ever had. With everything else that he did in his life, he always found the time to be the best father in the world.

Back at All Saints Catholic Church, Jim became Grand Knight of the George Brent Council of the Knights of Columbus in 1968-69, and together, he and Betty developed a caring, life-long relationship with the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia at Bristow, who ran All Saints School. Through Jim's participation in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, selling tootsie rolls to raise money for kids in need, building booths for the church bazaar, baking pizzas, slinging sloppy joes, singing barbershop music, expanding the parochial school, and presiding over multiple PTAs, Jim lived his faith and showed everyone what it meant to be an active and caring community builder - all of which he did while also working as a Senior Transportation Specialist for the Federal Maritime Commission in Washington, D.C..

His daughter, Fran, grew up, went to college, and got married, and when her husband, Marshall, came into Jim's life as his favorite (and only) son-in-law, Jim happily became a father to him, too. Jim stored his love for Marshall in his toolbox, and together the two of them painted the rooms in multiple houses, cut down many a tree, and renovated Marshall's office building. When Jim's only granddaughter, Hannah, was born, he and Marshall switched gears to furnish playrooms and erect playhouses and swing sets in the backyard.

In 2005, Jim and Betty moved to Charlottesville to be closer to their new granddaughter, and Jim repeated his perfect attendance score at all grandparent days, concerts, plays, and graduation ceremonies for Hannah. For the last 10 years, the whole family has lived together in the same home: Grandpa (Jim), Grandma (Betty), Fran, Marshall, and granddaughter, Hannah. Upon traveling downstairs to Betty and Jim's part of the house, you could often find Jim asleep in his armchair, reading a good World War II novel, or digging into a jar of JIF peanut butter.

Jim's was a life rich in love, steeped in family, forged by commitment, strengthened by faith, and brimming with heart. In the end, he passed peacefully surrounded by those he loved the most.

Jim is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Betty, his daughter Fran, his son-in-law Marshall, and his granddaughter Hannah. His brother Mike Cannon, 94, survives him as well, along with many nieces and nephews. Jim's brother, Bill Cannon, and his sisters Mary Catherine Cannon Baumgardner, Betty Jane Cannon Heath, Rose Marie "Patty" Cannon Chmura, and Barbara Ann Cannon Kaylor have gone before him to their eternal home, where he reunites with them at last and is surely greeted by his God with the words "Well done, good and faithful servant".

Dad, you will be greatly missed.

Jim's Visitation and Funeral Mass will be held in Charlottesville, VA at the Church of the Incarnation on Tuesday, October 4. Visitation will be at 1:30 pm, and Mass will begin at 2 pm. His burial will be in Bristow, VA at the Place of Peace Columbarium on Friday, October 7 at 1:30 pm. Receptions will follow both the Funeral Mass and the burial.