I helped carry Jim Ramage to the  helicopter that would take him on his

last flight.  His remains were draped in an American flag.  Firefighters

hovered over the remains of four that day and I had been ensuring  that

Jim was taken care of.  He was carried with honor and dignity up a steep

hill by myself, Jim Morrison and four firefighters.   We put him in the back

of a 212 along with another and then the bird was started and then lifted

off.

The familiar Whop-Whop-Whop sound of a Bell stirred the air and it

brought tears to my eyes.  How many times have we all heard that sound

and still love it?  How many times had Jim heard it in Viet Nam, flying

contract, flying for CDF, and then for the USFS?

 It's been a long, tough, exhausting, painful lousy week.   I have been

putting this off since last Wednesday when I was told that my friend,

our friend, Jim Ramage was taken from us.  Since then, there has been no

time to sit down and remember.  So here it is going on midnight and I

still can't get to sleep because I'm remembering what a good, decent man

Jim was.

What gets me is that he called me last Tuesday afternoon and I can still

hear his voice letting me know that he wanted to get together with me at

Trinity and he was looking forward to the visit.  I got the message and

grinned when I heard him give his usual greeting to me which was always,

"Hey Chuck, this is Jim".  I thought I would give him a call Wednesday

morning and let him know when I would be there.  I never got to make the

call.  I remember the pain, the disbelief, the empty feeling in my

stomach all those years ago when I lost some good friends and that pain,

disbelief and empty feeling returned with a vengeance.  This could not

be happening.

But it was.

I will only talk about the Jim I knew.  I can remember the first time I

met him and shook his hand.  His head went up and down faster than his

handshake and my eyeballs caged just watching him.  I always loved to

give him a hard time about that and he would just grin.  He was

passionate about doing the right thing for pilots. He was respected by

all for his honesty and professionalism.  Jim was a stickler for details

and making sure that I knew when I was going down the wrong path.  There

were some times when he and I got into some pretty heated arguments but

that never, ever, affected our friendship.   He was the best of friends.

 I miss him a lot already and it hasn't even been a week.

I had the pleasure of going to his new house this last May for supper.

Diane met us at the door and what a wonderful woman.  The house was

lighted just right and the table was set and all was in order. Jim could

hardly wait for me to get the tour of the house over with so I could go

see his, "shop" in the garage which was far from a shop.  I laughed as

did he when he gave the tour.  Jim was a  blessed man.  This was their

retirement home and I remember the three of us talking around the dinner

table that night about how Ann and I needed to come out and stay down in

the "shop" and have a good visit when we were all retired.  It would

have been good.  It was such a good time that night.  I'll always

remember that evening.

To the end, Jim was helping people.  Make no mistake that he was a

guardian angel to some of those folks on the helicopter that day.  That

is the way he should be remembered; helping others to the end.

 Jim Ramage.  A patriot, a husband to Diane for over 40 years, a father,

a provider for his family and a good friend to all of us. Remember his

family in your prayers.  He is missed.  So long Jim.

Chuck Taylor

National Helicopter Program Manager

3833 S. Development Ave.

Boise, ID 83705

Work: 208-387-5623

Cell:    208-761-5001