James Dale Aikens

James Dale Aikens

Long-time residents of Southern Utah may remember Jim Aikens' humor columns in the Spectrum from 2002 to 2007. He regrets to inform you that he has officially headed up the river of no return, sometimes known as Shit Creek.

He was 86, and, as he would say, a person hoary with years and ponderous with dignity. Or not. His response to dying from abdominal cancer would be: What Goes Around Comes Around.

Mr. A, as he was known to the hundreds of first graders he taught in Roy, Utah and then in Bloomington Hills for 19 years, loved teaching, loved children, and wanted them to love learning more than anything. He said that, "teaching the little people to read and write was the most fun I ever had." And this was a guy that had a lot of fun. It was practically his motto.

He loved partying and dancing and dressing up (toe rings, remember?). He loved the opera and the outdoors and the arts. He loved reading history and the news, and writing his funny cards and letters.

Mostly he loved his family - parents and brother Clyde, Claudia and Terrell Aikens of Ogden (deceased); brother Dr. C. Melvin Aikens of Eugene, OR and family; daughter and children Ashley, Rowan, Emerson and Cole Hartley of Albany CA; son and family Joshua, Julie, Katarina, Eric, Jackson and Ammon Aikens of Santa Clara. Above all his beautiful wife who he called Barbara Jane, of Kayenta.

About his departure from this mortal coil he would say sic transit gloria mundi (thus passes mortal glory.)He wrote, "As luck would have it, I am a poster boy for the American Dream. Do I deserve it? Probably not. It's better to be lucky than to be good."

For those who recall his plan for a Viking funeral, arrangements for bonfires and barreled beer and a flaming longship floating away in the darkness will be communicated in the fall.

If you'd like to re-read those columns, a paperback book with Jim's writings can be found on Amazon. Search for "Love to All" by Jim Aikens.