Mike Kerley
I’ve had the honor of working with Jim for about 14 years, and the privilege of calling him my friend even longer.We first met in high school about 25 years ago. We had common interests in math and science, and video games, and South Park. With that set of interests, you can imagine why neither of us were voted prom king. But we did both manage to “borrow” the prom king’s crown and scepter and take photos with them. We even made a short movie together for school where we had a fake sword fight with Jim’s real swords. And I know they were real because I had a little cut to prove it.Jim played a huge role in my career. He got me my first job after college, at a little startup called enKoo. I remember going for walks with him around the marsh land outside enKoo’s Fremont office, which was downwind from the Milpitas landfill. It smelled bad, but we enjoyed our walks anyway. We’d talk about work, and girlfriends (who would later become fiancés), and video games… and South Park. And after our walks, we’d go to 7-11 and Jim would buy a huge soda. Like a Big Gulp or maybe even a Super Big Gulp.I remember going shopping for an engagement ring with him. He had just bought Marisa’s ring shortly before me, and he took me to his jeweler. I think seeing Jim and Marisa get engaged was the push I needed to finally propose after dating Linda since high school and all through college… so Linda, you can thank Jim for that. And when Jim and Marisa got married, I had the honor of being the best man in their wedding.Whenever he came to visit, he always messed with our cats. He’d meow at them, pick them up, and mess with their fur… and they were never smart enough to hide from him. I once told him about how my cat was really annoying because she kept meowing at me all night and wouldn’t let me sleep. He said his cat did that once so he gave it a bath. That cat didn’t wake him up anymore.In recent years, we had lunch together just about every week, and we would chat about work, and life… and video games……… and South Park. He had such a great memory; I could quote any line from South Park, and he always knew exactly what episode it was from and could fire back another quote immediately. I’ll really miss those lunches.Most of all, I’ll remember how strong he was, right up till the end. With everything he was going through, he still managed to be supportive and even happy. I looked through some photos of him recently, and he had a huge smile in every one. During our lunches, he always asked what was going on with me and listened to my stupid problems. And even though they were nothing compared to what he was going through, he never made me feel like my problems were insignificant.So while I’m sad about the moments he won’t be around to see, I’m grateful for the times we did have together. And while we mourn his passing, we should remember to celebrate his life.