My friend and mentor, Jim Dale, passed away on May 19, 2009. I didn't find out about his passing until the evening of May 21, the day of the funeral. Jim couldn't be dead; he was only 66 and I had a book laying in the kitchen to loan to him. I was crushed that I could not honor a man at his death who had done so much for others during his life.About 10 years later, while visiting my parent's church in Nashville and it occurred to me that a speaker, John Grogan, also attended that church. John was a dynamic speaker and had appeared on stage with Norman Vincent Peele and others. I approached him and shared with him my desire to be a speaker. He said, "If that's what you want to do, I know someone who can help you." John and Jim belonged to the same speaker's organization and John knew Jim had a mentoring program for speakers. In September of 1999, I met Jim Dale and spent three days with him learning as much as I could about public speaking. With his course, came access to all his resources along with lifelong mentoring. Even though I lived 200 miles from Jim at the time, we spoke on the phone often and we became friends as well as teacher and student.
In the next few years, both of our lives were touched by serious illness. In 2000, I had a brain hemorrhage and in 2002 Jim almost died of stomach cancer. A life-theatening illness along with the crippling effects 9/11/01 had on the speaking industry basically ended my short speaking career and did serious financial damage to Jim Dale's career. He somehow managed to continue booking and holding speaking engagements even through extensive chemotherapy. He had no other choice.
When I saw Jim again in 2003 after I moved to Nashville, I could not believe it was the same man. He always laughed and said, "I'm half the man I used to be." Over the next six years, we would met occasionally for lunch or Jerry and I would meet him for dinner. He could not eat much so he would tell stories and we would listen. Jim was a quiet and lonely man with few close friends. To supplement his income, Jim had started substitute teaching in high schools around Nashville. He used his famous stories and magic tricks to educate and entertain his students. By the stories he told me, I knew how much Jim loved his students and how much he wanted them to understand their true value. In April of 2009, Jim told me how excited and honored he was that his favorite high school had asked him to be the baccalaureate speaker in May. It was his last speech.
When I found out that Jim had passed away, I called John Grogan and told him the news. We talked at length about Jim's great gift and his passion for God and serving people. I was comforted by the posts made on Jim's memorial site and especially by the post of a man who had heard Jim's last speech and been profoundly affected by it. I tried contacting Jim's daughter whom I felt I knew from Jim's stories but she never replied. I wanted her to know what a great man her father had been and how deeply he had touched people's lives. An employer of mine once told me if I wanted to know how important I was I should stick my finger in a bucket of water and pull it out and see what kind of impression it left. Well, life is not a bucket of water. One person's life can matter a great deal more than one may ever know. That was Jim Dale, my meek and kind friend and mentor.
