TRIBUTE

I was apart of a group message received from a Facebook friend yesterday that someone she thought we might know had recently passed away.

James (although I knew him as 'Jimmy') Mathiesen is the Marin County Deputy Sheriff who was gunned down a few nights ago in rural Petaluma. I was pretty stunned when I got the message, so I went to a local news site to find out what the story was. When I read about the horrifying turn of events that lead to his death, I don't know what was more shocking; that it took place just up the road from where I grew up, that it took place at the home of a childhood friend (who's family still lives there), or the tragic but heroic way that he died.

I had forgotten (thanks for the reminder, Gwen), but Jimmy drove a white Cadillac that had cow horns on the front hood and every day when I rode my bike home from school, he would always wave hello as he passed by in the opposite direction.

It had been MANY years since I had last seen him, but I always remembered Jimmy as a very friendly and happy guy who seemed to always walk around with a permanent smile. It was nice to read that he hadn't changed one bit over the years.