I knew of Jim and Pam Roberts even before we moved to Sun City. Jim and Pam moved in the summer of 2001, and we moved in the fall of 2001. Each of us moved from the east coast—the Roberts from New Jersey and the Sterlings from Rhode Island. Our houses are next to each other, and when our daughters came out to Huntley to report on the progress on the house, they occasionally spoke to Jim and Pam. They told us that Jim had just retired as an executive with the Boy Scouts and that Pam was a nurse. They learned that Jim was a woodworker, as I am.
Jim Roberts. (Photo Provided)
When we finally met, Jim and I had an immediate connection in woodworking. We both joined the Woodchucks even before the workshop was finished. In January of 2002, the club met and decided we needed to develop training for all the equipment in the shop. The woodworking equipment was divided into eight clusters, and together with thirty other members, we set about writing training classes on each cluster. Jim and I worked together on cluster three: the band saws, drill presses, and the scroll saws. We then cross-trained all the instructors on all the equipment. By March of 2002, all the club members had been trained and the shop opened. Soon after, woodworking project classes were developed. Jim taught one of the first classes on the making of wooden pens. Since that early class, about 1000 pens have been made, enough so that every relative of a Woodchuck has gotten at least one for Christmas or a birthday.
In June of 2002, I became the second president of the Woodchucks, and in June of 2004, Jim became the third president. We worked together on a number of projects. We built toys for underprivileged children for Christmas, a legacy that continues. We started Ask the Woodchucks, where days were set aside for residents to bring broken wooden furniture to the shop for repairs. Another successful repair day was held just last week, and another is planned for April.
In 2004, the Sterlings, the Roberts, and fourteen of our neighbors spent seventeen days on a river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. With only 125 people on the riverboat, we ate together, toured all of the cities along the rivers together, and had time to talk and learn about each other’s interesting lives. My wife Sandy remembers Jim as the one who helped the less steady passengers off the boat. This is of interest because Jim had polio as a child and his leg was damaged by the disease.
Jim has served the community on the Finance Committee and on the Governing Board. We had many conversation about the problems he encountered in these two positions. Jim was a great problem solver and volunteered thousands of hours serving in those capacities. As a member of the tennis club, when it was determined that more courts were needed, I sought out Jim to explore financing options to pay for the courts. We bounced ideas off each other for several months and we finally settled on a unique financing scheme. Jim did not play tennis, but he was very positive about serving the tennis club’s need while balancing the cost to the community. The final plan called for the tennis club to pay $20,000 a year for five years. This was accomplished by raising the dues by $50 a year for five years. The tennis club agreed to those terms, and the CAM Board agreed to the five-year loan. He then negotiated with Pulte to add a surcharge to all new homes sold from that point on to cover most of the other $100,000. The tennis club made every payment on time, and the last check was given to CAM in June of this year. Jim was able to hear of this and know that his hard work had paid off in huge dividends for the community and the tennis club.
Jim had a unique collection of skills and was very generous in volunteering his time serving the community. It will be impossible to replace him. I will really miss my friend Jim.
