Posted by Donald R. Loedding on October 15, 2013:

JIM (A Bark of LARCH) James A. Loedding was born in the Bronx, New York on August 26, 1931. My 2 year older brother always looked after me. In grade school I would line up fights for him after school, and if none, he and I would fist fight in front of St. Anthony's grade school in Dayton, Ohio. We were both Altar boys, took piano lessons and even played a duet at a school event (we fought later). And we sang at the Inland Children's Choir in Dayton, Ohio, especially at Christmas. We shared many belt spankings from Dad. Our Dad, Alfred C. Loedding, was an aeronautical engineer graduated from the New York University Bronx campus. He worked at Wright-Patterson Air force Base in Dayton, Ohio, from 1938 in T-3 and T-2 Intelligence and was the Director of Project Sign on UFO's in 1947 until he and his staff were fired about 1950 because Washington Air Force disapproved their final Estimate of The Situation (nicap.org/free internet books). With Dad's contacts with the Ohio Senator and ranking Air Force officers, he got Jim into West Point in 1949 where he graduated in 1953. He had a temper and was a perfectionist, just like Dad who was never warm to him until he went to West Point. In the army Jim went to jump school, made 7 jumps including one at night, and Ranger School to become regular army. In Europe he was on the pentathlon team with horse jumping, fencing, rifle shooting, etc. Then he was a General's aide in Germany. When he was in the Army, he sent me my first 35mm camera as I was the school photographer at Dayton Fairmont. When I was a geologist in Hawaii, he sent me a portable hi-fi record player which was the latest tech thing, which I carried everywhere on the islands playing 78 and 45 records. But he got bored of peacetime army with the slow promotions and returned to Dayton, Ohio, for his law degree and worked as a patent attorney where Dad got him a job at Wright-Patterson Air Force base. He maintained contact with his buddies from West Point who mostly became Generals. He got restless and bored with his jobs and changed frequently. When he worked as an attorney for a match company, he insisted on oak office furniture and when a book of matches caught fire, he sued the company - and got fired. Then he worked with a greeting card company in Kansas for a while. He worked as a commercial real estate broker in San Francisco where he insisted for a Saab convertible as a company car which got stolen while he was having breakfast at a restaurant. He was a runner and participated in the Bay to Breakers Race in San Francisco but collapsed with a torn Achilles' tendon. He moved to Honolulu and got a job with a commercial real estate company where again he insisted on oak furniture and a Nissan V series sports convertible for a company car. As a hobby he was a photographer for the Iron Man races and sold pictures. Later he moved to Los Angeles and worked real estate. Jim loved good wine and always bought the best of anything even when he was broke. His favorite expression for food was bodacious and enjoyed cooking. He married 4 times, met his true love Jadyn in Hawaii, his fourth. They moved from Los Angeles to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, in February, 1992, and he died there in June 27, 2012, two months before he was 81. Due to living in distant places, we saw each other every 5 years or longer but kept in touch with letters, phone calls and e-mail. I think we knew our dogs better than each other, but none of us growled or bit. Now he is in Heaven telling God and the Angels how to fix the gate, grow tomatoes, and what wine to serve. I love you , Jim, and miss our contacts. Donald R. Loedding "LARCH" @Copyright January, 2013

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