This is the saddest thread I have ever started.
Please upload your memories here.
The "Guardian Angel of Fickerville" smiles down on and flips us the bird with that smirk on his face!
We miss you ..... damn it.....

I broke a front tooth Cap and the only appointment I could get was during the convention so I have to go toothless as poor white trash.
I was going to announce at the banquet dinner that I was flirting with Chris and Jim hit me and broke my tooth.
Jim would have just said something like "And I'll do it again John!" Not defending himself and leaving me to explain the truth.
It was just one of 3 jokes I had planned for Jim and Chris.

There is no replacing him!

I am glad I got to spend a few weeks with him here at my place.... He was a great (big) mate .....

It never crossed my mind I would never see him again

Never met him, but just couldn't help but like him.

Things have been rather quite for me in the gyro world over the last few years, but every so often I would check in to the forums to see what was going on.

Over time, reading different posts from all the folks on here you kinda build up a picture in your mind of some of great people who are on here.

You build up respect for people, what they are doing, watching their dreams, ambitions come alive, all great stuff, I would often think of the people on here who I admire, and would like to meet and shake their hands in person when I finally get to a flyin in the US.

Jim was one of those people, although I never got to, and now never will be able to shake his hand, he will always inspire me.

To Chris, all his mates and buddies who knew him, I was so very sad to learn of his passing.

Catch you all at a flyin sometime!

Barry

WOW ... you guys! My heart is bursting with all the love poured out for us & FJ.

Here is the FJ life story ... as brief as I could keep it to a 10 minute reading @ the Celebration of his life events today & tomorrow.

JIM
was born James Lee Toevs @ Bethel hospital Newton KS on January22nd 1955 – the third
child and second son of Bertha Mae (Dyck) Toevs and Herman Lawrence Toevs of rural Whitewater.
He joined sister Janet and brother Paul completing the family! Bert described Jim as a very big
baby and a tough delivery but he was very special boy -sensitive and a “cuddler” - quite laid back where brother Paul was always busy and active!
For the first couple of years home was the house @ “Feeder Pig” where Herman farmed the Mellor ground. The family took up residence in the Toevs farm house @ 14075 NW 110th ST when Grandpa Jacob & Grandma Marie moved to Newton. He has lived there ever since!

Jim had a typical farm-kid life with chores to do and learned responsibility and a good work ethic from an early age! Outdoor activities included playing in the creekland with siblings and neighbor kids esp the Klaassen boys! They shot small game & pest birds with BBguns … even loading them with grains of milo &shooting at each other until they were caught & father stopped THAT!
Helping with cattle feeding chores and farming were a part of growing up – learning to operate machinery @ a young age to help out Dad!
4H activities were a big part of growing up and Bert & Herman were active 4H leaders!
Sunday school and church were also a major core of family & social life … they attended the Emmaus church right at the end of the driveway where Jim was baptized in 1970 (?)
Primary school was attended @ the Countryside school a faith-based school built & run by the church then after 5th grade he attended public school in Potwin then on to the newly built Frederik Remington High school @ Brainerd. Where he graduated in May 1973.

A favorite childhood memory were of family vacation trips to Colorado … especially the winter ski trips from age 11! Jim's love of snow-skiing continued through adult life.
Tragedy struck in June 1968 when Jim's brother Paul @ age 15 died in an accident 1 mile east when his homemade pride'n joy minibike was struck by a vehicle @ the intersection.
Again three years later in October 1971 Janet (21) died in a 2 car crash in Goshen IN.
these sad losses left deep scars that surfaced at times in his life & behavior!

As a high school senior Jim was a talented 6'5” basketball player – center forward the RHS team made regional championships and on to substate. After a come-from behind season of wins … they lost by a heartbreaking missed final freethrow!
Jim's record season rebound of 14.7 /game still stands in the Bronco records.
After RHS graduation Jim signed to play basketball for Butler County College JuCo. Grizzlies. While studying in math and sciences. After a year @ Butler he went to Montana to work for his Uncle Art as a supply packer in the mountains - packing supplies to the hunting camp via packhorses! After a couple of seasons in Montana he came home to farm with his dad … he felt that was his true calling … FARMER JIM!

In the next years he raised hogs and crops .. and bought the home farmstead from his parents!

In his late teens-early twenties he had taken lessons to fly a small airplane and earned his private pilot certificate when Herman and some flying club friends owned an Aeronca champ.
The year he was getting into an ambitious expansion of the farming operation, tragedy again struck the family when Jim's small car was hit from behind and he was in a coma for two weeks – after surgery to remove a brain clot he awoke but a long challenging road to walk,& talk & regain co-ordination followed. His parents went ahead and left the farm to start new businesses in Newton while Jim's uncle Art moved in for company to help in the rehab process! He continued to live life fully – but much less driven than before! Ski trips during winter were still a big highlight for him and he also enjoyed some sailing in Florida with special family friends the Harnishes!

In June 1984 he sent a letter to .. Australia … seeking penpals to pave the way for a “lifetime dream trip to the Land Down-under”! Of 30 initial respondents one was his future wife, Christine Gregg !
They corresponded for 18 months and met just before Christmas 1985. After some time in Kansas and Canada in 1986 Chris returned to Australia and in fall Jim planned a unique marriage proposal - disc plowing it into his harvested milo stubble and getting a pilot friend fly him over to take an aerial photo - which he then presented to the local newspaper editor in Australia for publication in the biweekly Stanthorpe Border Post! When it arrived in the mailbag he managed to remove the page( and no one noticed it gone) & put the proposal under Chris's dinner plate – that evening! As wedding plans were well in progress …. it's a good thing she still said YES! They were married on 24th January 1987 @ St John's - a little village church - The Summit Queensland. with a garden reception at the Gregg family home - “Mossvale” to follow.
After a honeymoon on Great Heron Island ( Barrier reef) included scuba diving – for which he bravely undertook the qualifying scuba course prior to the wedding! - the couple returned to the farm in Kansas after enjoying a mutual passion for snow skiing with friends in Colorado !

Jim and Chris farmed grain crops and forage and built up a small cow/calf herd , until recent years, scaling down out of the dirt farming and specializing in premium small baled brome hay for horse operations & area zoos. Jim got his CDL to do some driving of tour bus with Herman's new business and later drove his big semi-truck delivering hay to Texas Colorado & 4. Missouri!
Jim & Chris were blessed to be able to return to Australia to visit family & friends on a regular basis … every other winter until 1998,and 2000 when they met Chris's parents ½ way in Hawaii!
December 17 1989 they welcomed Jason Kirk -a much awaited grandson for Bert & Herman into the family. January 25th 1992 Joshua Gregg arrived to complete the family. Jim was a kind, loving father with a funny “off-the-wall” sense of humor!

Over the years ,when fall harvest was in, Jim made several working vacations to his farming/trucking friends in South Australia .. helping the Downing brothers with wheat harvest & outback livestock trucking in the “Road-trains” .. he was not one to do “idle- vacations”!
It was at the Downings that he first came across the world of gyrocopters – where John used the cute little homebuilt rotorcraft to inspect fences,water & livestock from the air! Jim was inspired to return to his long dormant passion for flight.

In 2010 Jim & Chris extensively researched the US gyroplane world and after a visit to the rotorcraft convention @ Mentone IN & the big annual Experimental Aircraft Assn.( EAA) airshow in Oshkosh - Jim bought a part-built project Turbo Golden Butterfly a two seat (for instruction) and heavy-hauler ( planning to crop spray)! He became a dealer for the Butterfly Gyroplane LLC and exhibited it in 2011 at Oshkosh and Mentone. - where he met flight instructor Desmon Butts who became a close friend, instructor,and partner in the new gyroplane importing company TAGNA -Titanium AutoGyro North America formed in 2015 to bring these Australian made gyros to the US market! Jim was the current president of TAGNA.
After a long disappointing journey with the Butterfly version, the TGB was mothballed in 2014 5. June of 2016 Jim was finally able to complete his training in the “Big-Jim” customized Titanium Explorer they had built in Australia,imported & owned for the last year.... having much fun together taking it around to rotorcraft events from Florida to Utah, Indiana to Texas!
On June13 2016 Jim finally flew his solo flight in his gyroplane and on the 17th passed his test flight for his sport pilot rating! He was so thrilled to finally become a PIC “Pilot in Command” once again ...and loved to fly his red Titanium gyro… no longer a passenger shoehorned in the backseat … while Chris flew it!
Jim and Chris were excited to be headed off to exhibit the machine at the vendors booth and have fun flying over the Indiana countryside with their beloved gyro-friends at the Popular Rotorcraft Convention( PRA) convention this week @ Mentone. Then on to represent TAGNA on display at a booth at Oshkosh next week.

Sadly all those future plans ended @ 7pm Friday July 15th when we believe a possible incapacitating medical crisis rendered Jim unconscious/ incapable of flying the machine and it went into a steep climb and fell to earth without any pilot inputs to save it.

We are all devastated in our loss and Jim's sudden absence from our lives but rejoice that he is with our Lord & Savior Jesus reunited with his beloved mother Bert , siblings Janet , Paul , his preemie grandbabies Faith & Isaac & other loved ones in heaven! There is no more crippling back & knee pain for Jim and his struggle is over to get through each day on earth! Hallelujah!

(Reading of poem “ The Final Flight”)



The Final flight

Don't grieve for me, for now I am free
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took His hand when I heard His call,
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to build, to play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I've found that peace at the end of the day.

If my parting has left a void,
then fill it with remembered joy,
A friendship shared,a laugh,a kiss,
Ah ,yes, these things too I will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I savored much,
good family,good times, a loved ones touch.

My time has come, do not be sad,
I am ready, rejoice, be glad.
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wanted me now, he set me free!

Author : unknown.

Some pictures from the Celebration -of-Life gatherings.
Friday eve ... @ his dad's nursing home /retirement village ... dinner with extended family.
Saturday arvo ... @ Whitewater community church ... lots of folks ... including some beloved gyro-buds!

...as usual i loaded them in order & they come up in reverse- chronologically!

Look close @ that flower arrangement ... with a HAY HOOK innit ... FJ's friend- kindred spirit jokester ( runs local autoshop ..fixing farmers trucks & machines) ... stole what he hoped was Jim's favorite hay-hook & had the flower shop do an arrangement with it!

The one with the stuffed horses is from the local "Ellyfants" ... Sedgwick County Zoo

Thank you for the pictures and for letting us know how it went. I deeply regret that I could not make it but even by the fastest route it was an estimated 21 hour drive to Whitewater and another 21 back to Daytona....
So for us that couldn't make it.....I sure appreciate all that you have posted.
Sending my virtual hug hon.
Thank you.

WOW ... looking over this Memorial Wall @ the others ... Dirty Dog ( ChrisB), Dogman(Doug G) & now JIM ...eerily similar situations ... at least with FJ we have a definitive medical finding!