Celebrating Life

I am big on obituaries. I think they are a beautiful way to sum up someone's life, in a way that leaves them fondly remembered or vilified or whatever the case may be. I think in most cases, it's the first time someone is being recognized for how neat their life was. I read this recently: an amazing life.

Jim Quivey, 85, passed away February 14, 2011. He was born January 28, 1926 in Columbus, OH. During the Depression, Jim's parents, James and Nona, moved Jim and his sister Jean to Pittsburgh, Pa., so they could obtain employment at a large dairy farm. Jim served as an Army 101st Airborne paratrooper in 19944-45, during WWII. He was stationed in Germany. While attending school in Pittsburgh, Pa., he met Margaret Dolinar; they were married in 1947. Two children were born from this union: Linda and Dennis.

Jim's life was the greatest after they moved to Oelrichs, SD, and he started raising draft horses at 57. For him to go to the field and work with 10 broke horses was the greatest time imaginable. In his mid-60s they had a total of 18 head of work horses.

In 1994, Jim was involved in a terrible accident at Crazy Horse Monument near Custer, SD with a wagon and team. Jim was thrown out of the wagon when the seat broke, and he was run over by the heavy wagon. The wheel pinched his spinal cord, leaving him with no feeling or control in his left leg. Two days after the accident while in the hospital, his aorta ruptured, requiring a five hour surgery and 19 units of blood. If there had not been a doctor and EMTs visiting the monument and a heart specialist visiting the hospital in Rapid City, his buckboard would have remained empty. After beating all odds at 72 years young, he won some more life.

Jim was a person who enjoyed working with kids and horses to help them learn. Whether it was learning how to harness them, lead, ride or drive them, he always had a new protege who was learning how to handle horses... He would have an electric blanket over his weakened legs, and a generator running in the back of the wagon. Jim was never one to sit and watch life go by, so he started a business called Jim's Carriage Service. He would hire out to drive a carriage at weddings and a horse-drawn hearse at funerals. Anyone that has ever hauled around a team and a wagon know it is not an easy task for a young and agile person, needless an elderly man with two legs that didn't work real well. It was a tough decision for Jim to sell the business, but he knew it was too physically demanding to keep it going.

On his 80th birthday he decided he was going to sky dive from 10,000 feet, which he did successfully just to prove he could. He would take trips to Florida driving all the way by himself at 79, 80 and 82 (he could barely walk at the time)...The doctors were always amazed by his determination, and the nurses always made sure he had a plate with special homemade cookies... One time they asked him if he had someone to check in on him. Jim quickly responded, I have a neighbor that checks in on me every morning. Little did they know the "neighbor" was a horse that came up to the window every morning.

While pulling the hearse at a funeral...it was a tight squeeze through some of the spots in Rapid City, SD, but Jim could park a team of horses better than most can park an economy car... A common sight was Jim in his scooter driving to the buggy so he could climb up there and take hold of the reins. Jim knew his days were drawing to an end, so he traded a funeral home his horse-drawn hearse for doing his funeral services. He is survived by his sister...daughter...etc... two Belgians and nine Suffolk draft horses.