A Eulogy: Jimmie Carrigan

On January 3, 1952, James Myron Carrigan made a perfect, three-point landing on schedule, in Salinas. His parents, Eddie and Herrie Lee, were waiting on the tarmac to welcome him. He arrived without luggage.

Jim used to tell people his dad was the milk man . . . his dad was a milk man but not THE milk man.

Jimmie’s middle name, Myron, was his father’s middle name.

Coincidentally, he was the middle child, born between his sisters, Linda and Patti.

I never knew Jim was born in Salinas . . . I always associated Jim with Tulare. When Jim was young his father took a job with Herrie Lee’s father in the farm equipment business and moved the Carrigan family to Tulare.

This morning I want to open the Gospel According to James of Tulare . . .

I want to look at Jim Carrigan’s life from several perspectives or angles. First, there is . . .

A. Jim the Student

As a child, Jim was very curious and constantly asked questions. I’m not sure what kind of grades Jim received in school, but he was a student, and he remained a student for the rest of his life.

He learned welding. He learned carpentry. Then he learned to design and draft house plans. I remember a time when He resisted changing to computer drafting, but he learned.

In recent years, he fulfilled a life-long: Jim attended flight school and earned his pilot’s license.

Jim was a student of the Bible throughout his life. Often, he would study and research in order to answer questions he encountered while sharing Jesus Christ with others. When I had a chance to visit with Jim, he would eagerly initiate a conversation about some biblical or doctrinal truth he was investigating.

Jim the Student . . . there’s another perspective . . .

B. Jim the Builder

Jimmie was a busy, active child, who loved to build. His pastor, Pastor Preddy, gave him some wheels because Jimmie wanted to make go carts. Several years later, Jimmie worked at his grandfather’s business welding farm equipment.

While in Bible College, Jim worked for William Carmichael, who taught Jimmie about construction. After moving to Bakersfield early in 1975, Jim worked in the oil fields as a roustabout. But, he found an opportunity to work as a carpenter and builder.

Jim and Sue began attending Bethel Assembly, where they met the Judkins family. Jim worked for Don, and then for Don’s son, Donavan.

Jim was conscientious and hard-working. Some have joked that Jim had “Adult ADHD”, but he just loved to stay busy, doing something with his hands! Susan said she never heard Jim get up in the morning and say, “Oh no, I’ve got to go to work today!”
He was seldom on time for work because he was usually early.

Jim helped me get the construction started on the first church I served as Pastor . . . Sandra and I have always wanted to live in a house designed and built by Jim Carrigan! I’m afraid we’ll have to move to Bakersfield for that to happen.

Jim the Student, Jim the Builder . . . Now consider . . .

C. Jim the Sportsman

Jim was an athlete. He broke several of his bones in athletic pursuits, including his arm and leg. He played little league baseball.

At Tulare Union High School, he participated in football, track, and basketball. He was the quarterback on a championship team.

Jim’s love for sports and his love for building things came together when he began building race cars. Wayne and Gary Poe raced his cars. More recently, Jeff Smith also was a partner and raced his cars.

Whenever the Purdy Family had a get together, after everyone had chatted and had a big dinner, Jim and the boys would gravitate to the basketball hoop and some kind of game would break out.

Jim was a Student, a Builder, a Sportsman . . . but one of Jim’s highest priorities made him . . .

D. Jim the Family Man

While attending Bethany Bible College, Jim noticed Susan Georgene Purdy in chapel. Their 1st date was in the last week of February, 1971. Jim was very cautious and deliberate in their courtship, so it took him an entire wee to propose . . . they were engaged a week later, March 7th, 1971. Nine months later, December 18, 1971, in Whittier, CA, I had the joy of performing my first wedding, as Sue and Jim pledged to love each other for the rest of their lives.

Their first home was a parsonage at a Christian conference center back in the Santa Cruz mountains. While living there, Samuel James Carrigan was born on December 20, 1973.

In January 1975, Jim and Sue decided to leave Bethany after the Fall semester. They chose Bakersfield because we invited them to stay with us until they decided what to do . . . we escaped from Bakersfield a few months later, but they never did get away.

They chose Bethel Assembly as their home church. They found a place to live. And Jesse Owen Carrigan was born May 22, 1976. Jim and Sue found First Assembly in the early 1980’s, and this has been their home for many years.

Jim was a kind husband and father. He loved his family and over the years, his family grew!

Samuel grew up, fell in love, and married Paula Renee. Sam and Paula and gave Jim two Grandsons: Weston James and Levi David
Jesse’s daughter Star Mertise was Jim’s first grandchild and only granddaughter.

Jim’s sister Linda married John Bergman, and they gave Jim two nieces. His sister Patricia married Gary Capehart, and they added a nephew and a niece to Jims family. There were sisters-in-law and a brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, on the Purdy side also. Speaking for both sides, I believe I can say, “Jim was a beloved, precious, and valued member of our family.”

Jim loved his family, and he especially loved his wife.

Jim was uniquely romantic . . . Susan told me of a time, on a cold night, that Jim cuddled up close in bed and said softly, “You’re warm and toasty . . . like an Egg McMuffin!”

Last Christmas, Jim gave Susan a personal card. I have never thought of giving my wife a Christmas card. I always thought I was doing well to a birthday card and an anniversary card! Gentlemen, Jim raised the bar!

Susan shared the Christmas card with me and I want to read it.

Real love is the way you accept me,
My good points, faults, and all
It’s knowing you support me
And feeling ten feet tall.
It’s the little daily triumphs
I can’t wait to share with you.
It’s all the random rough spots
That we help each other through.
It’s morning in the kitchen
It’s cuddling at night.
This is love, the daily stuff
And we sure got it right!

The Christmas season is
A beautiful time of the year,
But what we have day in and day out
While we’re sharing life together
Is more beautiful still!

And Jim circled these last words . . .

I love our life together, and I love you!

Sue says, “I knew Jim loved God, but I was so happy to realize that I was number two!”

Jim loved his wife and family, but he had one higher priority.

Student, Builder, Sportsman, Family Man . . . I we need to address the most important perspective of Jim’s life, Jim’s highest priority . . .

E. Jim the Evangelist

Jim gave his life to the Lord at age 11 at a Baptist church in Tulare. Thank God for the Baptists!

He memorized the hymn “Trust and Obey” in the 4th grade Sunday School class.

Making Jesus the Lord of his life was the most important decision in Jim’s life, of course, but Jim was forever changed when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit at age 16, while in high school.

Although Jim was a successful athlete, he was not particularly popular at school. He became known as “Preacher Boy” because he boldly shared Christ and challenged sinful behavior.

He could have had athletic scholarships to several colleges, but he chose to attend Bethany Bible College in 1970. At Bethany he met Susan and started his family.

Jim served every church he attended in any way he could.

Jim was not just a religious man . . . he was a spiritual man.

Prayer was a personal priority in Jim’s daily life . . . He looked forward to praying with his pastor every Sunday morning. I remember a an early Sunday morning phone call from Jim in which he shared that he had been praying for me, and God gave him a personal message for me! It was just what I needed to hear that morning!

God’s word was a personal priority in Jim’s life . . . He studied the Bible and he taught the Bible! He loved God’s Word and lived it daily! He taught an adult Sunday School class here at Bakersfield First, but about 4 years ago Jim and Sue were promoted to teach a 2nd grade Sunday School class. That’s what happens if you’re a really good teacher! Whether to adults or children, Jim did not just teach a lesson . . . He taught God’s Word!

Jim had a life-long passion for the things of God. Hours after I learned of Jim’s promotion to Heaven, I thought of a verse in the Gospel According John, chapter 2. When the Apostle John wrote of Jesus cleansing the Temple he quoted a verse from Psalm 69.
In the NIV it reads, “Zeal for your house has consumed me!”

It was zeal and passion for the things of God and the people God loved that motivated Jim to share Christ. That’s why he became “preacher boy” at Taylor Union High. That’s why he challenged the girls at Bethany to dress more modestly! That’s why he talked about the Bible with everyone nearby! That’s why he asked to pray with sick federal prisoners being flown to the Federal Prison Hospital in Springfield. That’s why he often talked about the coming of the Lord! Jim was consumed by passion for the things of God!

Jim went to Bethany Bible College because he felt God had called him to ministry. For several years he planned to become an evangelist. The casual observer might be tempted to think that Jim never became a minister or an evangelist. But ministry is not necessarily what happens behind a pulpit or in a sanctuary . . . Ministry happens out there where people live. Evangelism is not just what happens when you are passing out tracts or preaching in a crusade . . . Evangelism happens whenever you share Jesus Christ wherever you are! Jim was a wonderful minister and an outstanding Evangelist!

Above all else, Jim Carrigan was a man of God.

In closing, I want to tell you about Jim’s “Man Cave.” Wherever Jim lived, he had a “man cave.” I stood in Jim’s man cave on Saturday evening . . . the garage!

There is no big screen TV, no wet bar, no pool table but, it is Jim’s “Man Cave.” Every dimension of Jim’s life is represented there.

Jim the Sportsman was represented by a Basketball on a top shelf . . . and seven pairs of old tennis shoes were hung neatly in a row nearby.

Jim the Family Man wouldn’t let put sue stuff in the garage, except for some brooms, mops, and dusters. But there are four bicycles hanging on a wall and one is a bike he bought and fixed up for his grand nephew, Brayden, my grandson.

Jim the Builder is well represented. There are special shelves of old coffee cans holding screws, nuts, and bolts. Tools are neatly hung from the walls or placed on the shelves. There’s a trailer loaded with supplies, tools, and ladders for the use of those building a house down the street for Jim’s boss. There are tool boxes, boxes of nails, and welding equipment. There are wheels, metal beams, and axles; Jim’s next project was building trailer to carry whatever might need to be moved.

Jim the Student is represented by all the things Jim has learned to do throughout his life

What about Jim the Evangelist? On an old table saw with a huge vise, I found a stack of papers that somehow represented several dimensions of Jim’s life. There were plans for the new trailer, mileage records to turn into his boss, a letter from a CPA, a letter regarding the air charter business, and there I found a printout from the internet . . . it was from a website that answered a doctrinal question. I have no doubt it was a question that someone had asked Jim, and Jim was prepared to share an answer, because, talking about the things of God was Jim’s highest priority!

Jim’s life was reflected in that “man cave” in another sense. Everything has its place in Jim’s garage . . .

And Jim had things of life in order spiritually. He had sorted out his priorities, everything was in place, and Jim was ready to meet His Savior!

If Jim could speak a few words to you this morning, he would say something like, “Get ready! Put your life in order! Get your priorities straightened out . . . heaven is real, and Jesus is coming soon!”

On July 9, Jim took his last flight, a non-stop, one way flight into the presence of His Lord and Savior . . . Jim’s parents and a great cloud of witnesses were there to welcome Him home!