High School and After
When I graduated from college, married my college girlfriend, and moved to
Champaign Illinois,
I heard stories of Jesse's legendary time in high school, doing all of the things I
never did, playing football, elected president of student government, and being the
center of Palisade High School's social life.
When I divorced in 1999 and Jesse graduated in 2000, he moved into my home joining
my brother Jake and his wife Lisa who were also living with me. These are some of my most
cherished memories with the four of us living together cumulating in the momentous arrival
of my brother Jake’s daughter Aura.
This shouldn't be much of shock, but Jesse and I loved to smoke weed together. He would laugh
and joke on my pontifications on art, life, politics, technologies, and whatever else that
drew a chuckle and a twinkle or two from Jesse. We exemplified the "pipe dreams" cliché in our
many conversations over the years. One very early morning, Jesse woke me up for a wake-and-bake
at 4:20 am on 4/20 (April 20th)
just one of the many times he upended expectations while introducing me to a delightful new experience.
For my final story from this time, I had started practicing the martial art of Aikido a couple of years
when Jesse moved in, I "made" him take an Aikido beginner course. Back home, he was asking about a
technique he had learned called shihonage which
when done correctly requires the person being thrown to be able to take ukemi, or a controlled fall. As
Jesse was always a good athlete, he executed the technique perfectly which totally surprised me and I had
to take a high break-fall on the kitchen’s hard wooden floor. There have been a few times in my 28 years of
Aikido practice that I have experienced pure aiki, or harmony, and that technique of Jesse’s is one of the
first and one of the most memorable ones.
The Early 2000s
Jesse moved to Portland, Oregon soon after and
I visited him two or three times. On my first trip I remember staying with him and his best friend Tyler, playing
Star Wars Pod Racer on the Nintendo 64
on Tyler's projector. On another trip, we drove to the ocean, went crabbing, and then drove to meet our Aunt Evie and spending
time with our cousin Monty.
During my own struggles when I lived in Utah, Jesse was
always compassionate but firm and his love for me provided a light and waypoint in my own darkness and despair.
I began my spiritual journey as an empirical Non-Theist Quaker
first as a member of the Salt Lake City Friends Meeting in 2004.
I am currently a member of the Colorado Springs Monthly Meeting and
an attender at the San Francisco Friends Meeting. Jesse, myself and the rest
of my siblings where raised by our parents in the Jehovah Witnesses faith. I was never
baptised but Jesse was. His churches in North Dakota, Kief Liberty Baptist Church
in Kief and Living Word Lutheran Church and in
Minot grew Jesse's Christian Faith. I share the same
conception of God as Spinoza and
Albert Einstein. I respect Yahwah, Buddha, Earth Seed,
Odin, Jehovah, Allah, and all of other rich world religions as did Jesse.
As the decade closed, Jesse was working at Blackjack Pizza in Grand Junction
and he had the opportunity to purchase the franchise. We always shared a love of entrepreneurship and I was his
silent partner, providing the initial loan for purchasing Blackjack and helped cover expenses in that first year.
He would work 100+ hours a week, often forgoing his own pay to meet his employees' payroll. I won't go into the
ugliness of the lawsuit brought on by a few of his employees but when he told me he would have to declare
bankruptcy and close the restaurant, he was so apologetic, crying and worried that he was disappointing me.
I never thought that and I was so proud (and still am) of his hard work and effort. I am convinced that absent
the lawsuit, he would have made a great success of Blackjack. He was never bitter towards those employees and even
in the worst moments, keeping his trademark optimism and belief that things would get better.
