PROPWASH
October 2016
7
local, district, and model
boaters all over the United
States. It was an ongoing
process for him. He listened,
he read extensively, and he
spent countless hours at the
lake in Fremont, California
testing props, pipes, thrust
angles, fuels, glow plugs,
and turn fins. If it went on a
model boat, Jim tested it
extensively. His model
boating data base would
cause one of those early
IBM PC’s to crash
immediately. An analogy I
like to use is, “If you asked
Jim the time, he would
explain in detail how to build the watch.” He was an excellent cook and teacher. He
was always trying to experiment with something new. The Thanksgiving turkey
injected with its own drippings was always cooked on one of the four bar-be-ques on
the deck. In Reno with snow on the ground, Jim would bar-be-que on the front porch.
Jim also loved to fish. We would go up to Eagle Lake two hours north of Reno to
fish for trout. Diane has a favorite post card showing a husband and wife in a fishing
boat and the wife is catching all the fish. In the caption, the husband is saying, “I’m
teaching her how to fish.” Diane likes to point out that she caught the largest fish out
of Eagle Lake. However, on a fishing trip to Alaska it was Jim who caught the biggest
salmon. The fish was too large to fit into the net. It was necessary to bring the boat to
the shore. Jim got in to the water, grabbed the fish, and tossed it into the boat. Jim and
his older brother also liked to fish the Columbia River.
Jim’s hat was his trade mark. When he first started wearing it, he had a t-shirt that
said, “I ain’t no cowboy, I just found the hat.” Diane would look for his hat if she lost
him in a crowd or when picking him up at the airport. He loved classic country music
and rock and roll from the 50’s and 60’s. Jim was an avid reader. In the guest bedroom
is a floor to almost the ceiling wall shelf with hundreds of books Jim had read stacked
three deep and all neatly categorized by the author. He also loved to grow vegetables
in the garden. Tomatoes, beans, zucchini, and onions, along with seven dwarf fruit
trees are planted around the house. He provided them all with the TLC that they
needed.
He was driven to do his best. It was First Place and at the top or nothing. Cs in
school were not good enough. My opportunities to compete against Jim were limited
and I usually placed some where behind Jim in the event’s final standings. However,
two of my most memorable
and cherished National
Championships were in 2009
and 2013 when I won the
Sport 20 Class. I would be
remiss in not mentioning that
Jim experienced problems on
both occasions that caused
him to not finish heats. Jim
won many races and he also
lost many races. It was my
experience that if not the first,
then among the first, to
congratulate the winner of the
event.
He packed up all of his airplane gear
himself in what were called wardrobe
boxes. While in New Jersey he met a
fellow flyer. They were given
permission to fly their planes at a sod
farm. Upon arriving in New Jersey,
Diane asked of the locals when it would
stop raining. She was informed it
stopped raining in September and then it
would begin snowing.
After three years of humidity and
snow in New Jersey, he was promoted
to a First Line Administration Manager
in Oakland, California. It was at
Oakland that Jim met fellow IBM
executive, Jim Whitlatch, who most of
you know ran model boats. Jim came
home one night and asked Diane, who
took care of the finances and if they
could afford to spend $250 for a radio
controlled boat which happened to be a
B Hydro. (For those attending who are
not familiar with model engines, this
engine had .45 cubic inches of
displacement. The diameter of the piston
would be similar to that of a quarter.)
Not mentioned in the $250 cost of the
boat were a few extra items like the
transmitter, propellers, fuel, tools, travel
expenses. And the list would continue.
$250 did not sound like much, so Diane
said, “Yes.” She considers this the best
financial mistake she ever make.
In November of 1980, Jim was
transferred to the IBM office in Reno,
Nevada. One of Diane’s first
remembrances of the relocation to Reno
happened on their first weekend. She
decided to wash the car and ended up
slipping on ice that formed on the drive
way when rinsing the car.
Jim left IBM in 1992 during a “down
sizing” period and IBM was outsourcing
a lot of the departments. He was
however able to “bridge” with a
company that IBM used for outsourcing
departments. He remained in the same
office, had the same phone number and
salary. His employees were former
IBM’ers with Jim reporting directly to
IBM. Jim’s official retirement from
IBM was 1999. He did consultant work
for Sasco Electric for two more years to
enhance his Social Security.
Jim had been a member of the
NAMBA District 9 Model Mariners
since 1979. Jim loved to share his
extensive knowledge of model boats to
Jim Wilson’s attention to detail was second to none as
he knew the drivers as well as their boats when he was
Diane and Jim Wilson at the Clock Tower Race in
Hobart, Indiana.
