Page created by: Steven Kudenov

I first met Jimmy as a result of working with his son Vernon. And by interesting coincidence, Jimmy and his wife Laverne lived just down the street from my apartment in Newhall, California. I was intrigued by Jimmy after first visiting the Booth homestead. His life and experiences were so different than mine, he having been raised somewhat as a cowboy, and working with livestock for much of his life. Being a city boy, I would ask him about his experiences working with horses and other livestock, and I grew to realize that he and I were having conversations that I had missed out in having with my father. And, like Jimmy, I found myself increasingly skeptical that many of the "new ways of doing things" were not an improvement on certain of the time- honored solutions to the problems and challenges of they were replacing.

Jimmy was inspirational for me; his keeping active and healthy well into his retirement years. I even recall being surprised that he was a capable dancer, as he had shown himself to be when he danced with my sister at Vernon's wedding reception many years ago. I find myself wondering that perhaps he had some other surprises to reveal, had I befriended him in earlier times.

-Steve