JBs Yogurt

I know its not a shock for many of you to hear that J.B. was a perfectionist. But it may be a shock that J.B. even brought perfection to the table during meals. See whenever we had a meal that included yogurt it was always an experience. It was usually at breakfast when we saw this magnificent feat of perfection. J.B. would grab a bottle of yogurt and would scoot his chair back a little bit from the table. He would then take a deep breath and shake the yogurt vigorously in his hand off to the side of his chair. He would continue shaking it until he was either tired or felt it had been shaken sufficiently. To me it seemed like it was an excess amount when he would shake it that much because I could shake it one or twice and it would be fine. He just had to have it the "perfect consistency" as he would put it. At times it would be very annoying to us especially me in the mornings since I am not much of a morning person some days. My parents would often ask him to stop but it ended up making us all laugh because the way he did it was hilarious. I can still picture him doing that and now as a joke I do it sometimes just to remind myself and my family about how funny he was when it came to his perfectionism.

Outstanding Sir!

The following was submitted to us by Carlos Pinedo, 2Lt, USAF who was a fellow ROTC cadet at MIT during Jamin's years in college:

J.B. was an "outstanding" person. Now when I say "outstanding," I don't just mean because of all the excellent things he did, but also because he said "outstanding" a lot.

At MIT, ROTC class always started around 6am on Monday mornings. Now out in the real world that's pretty early, but for college students that is an ungodly hour! To begin, the commanding officers would have us stand at attention for morning inspection. While passing down the line they would usually ask you how you were doing. The expected response "outstanding" was usually delivered more as a grumble than exclamation by most of the cadets. But no one, especially myself, felt outstanding that early on a Monday morning. However to our dismay, envy, etc., whenever the inspector got to J.B. you always knew because out of no where you would hear "OUTSTANDING! SIR!" I bring this up not showcase how lazy and unmotivated I or the rest of the squadron was in ROTC, as most of my friends can attest, but rather to show the dedication and joy that J.B. had for ROTC, the military, and anything else that challenged him in the least. He loved getting dirty, dropping and doing push ups, and was always getting yelled at for having a that smile of his spread across his face.

here was also another thing that J.B. did that I always admired. Even though I went to MIT and he Harvard, we would still run into each other all the time during ROTC, after class, or on weekends. When we did meet, J.B. never gave a simple hello, what's up, or the proverbial head nod. He would not only stop to greet you but would say your name, "Carlos, hey man, how's it going" Just that small thing of saying one's name, of acknowledging who they are, was so amazing. He did it because he genuinely cared about how things were going and genuinely cared for people.

All this comes back to two things. While in college I was expanding upon my own spirituality and learning what it means to be a Christian. From the gospels I learned two important things from the life of Jesus Christ. One was his great love for all, the other his willingness to serve. That's what J.B. did all the time. He loved everyone, and was always willing to help you out, or cheer you up. He never stopped showing that he cared. His also always carried with him a willingness to serve; his friends, family, or this country.

I have tried and failed many times to live up to Christ's example. But J.B. got closer to Christ's character than any other person I have known, closer than any of us could aspire to. We're gonna miss you J.B.!

Chef Jamin

Jamin couldn't have been more than 7 years old and I around 5. Everyone else in the house was asleep but somehow the two of us were up before the sun even was. I remember looking out of the doors in our dining room at the time and being so excited about what we were about to do.

The first step was the cardboard table . . . we set it up in the corner of the dining room with two chairs behind it. Then J.B. began unfolding his plan, directing me every step of the way. We emptied the cupboards of every breakfast food you could imagine. We had about 8 boxes of cereal out on the table, every kind of tea you could imagine, a gallon of milk, and probably even some foods that you wouldn't normally eat for breakfast. We were just finishing setting up shop when we heard the first footsteps coming down the hall "Get behind the table Molly," the whisper accompanied by a very hurried hand motion indicating the urgency of the action.

"What can I get you for breakfast sir? . . . " he went on to list every item that my Dad could already clearly see laid out on the table. And, so began a Saturday morning at the Wilson house.

As I am sure you know by now, Jamin loved to do things well and anything he couldn't do well he viewed as a challenge, most of which he gladly accepted. Cooking eventually fell into this category.

We were so fortuneate growing up to have an amazing mother who also happened to be a fantastic cook (and still is today)! She tried, whenever possible to have one of us help out in the kitchen. I think that J.B. was the only one who actually paid attention.

Although he learned the basics growing up it wasn't until J.B. was out on his own that he really began to become friends with the kitchen. As you may have read in either his Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe or Lasagna making adventure, Jamin would not settle for anything less than the best even if that meant the sacrifice of time. Always precise, Jamin would make sure that he had the perfect amounts of the necessary ingredients and would not stray from the instructions of the recipe book. But, he did have a point (as one friend recounted) "we have the directions here so if we just follow them we should come out with something good" and from what I understand he ususally did.

He is probably the only bachelor I have ever heard of that made lasagna from scratch just because he wanted to try, or would make cookies when he had the time only to give them away. Less than a month before his death Jamin conquered what I think most people consider to be the ultimate test of cooking capability . . . the Thanksgiving turkey. And as I understand it, he passed with flying colors.

I know that this is kind of a silly example but it is just one more reason why I admired my brother so much. He would take on something he had never done before and somehow or another still come out on top.

"J.B. what are you DOING?" . . . "Cook-ing mom"

He was so proud of the hat he even kept it on for the meal!

Kids night in the kitchen . . . and yes I did help (I just didn't want to wear the silly hat)

While the rest of us went for quantity, J.B. made sure that his job was done with quality (he did manage to peel the skin off in one long strand)

Jamin fixing us dinner in his German kitchen just a few months ago . . . more to come on this particular meal later

Memories of a Green Beetle

The following was contributed by Vera Valentine, a friend and fellow counselor from Jamin's Camp Elim days in High School.

I met J.B. at Camp I think in 98', and am a couple of years younger than he was. I remember once, being so happy to get picked up by the shiny green beetle and ride safely (I do also remember feeling so safe with him at the wheel) up to camp for a training week I think. I don't remember much of that weekend except for that in a fairly rough game of "full contact" spoons,
J.B. managed to rip a hole through a new shirt of mine. We were both very surprised but I assured him not to worry, it was only a small hole and told him it could be repaired.

On the way home J.B. pulled off the highway to I think some castle rock outlets. I was not sure
what he was doing but soon figured out that he was determined to repair the "damage" he had done to the silly cotton shirt. He would not refuse taking me to choose another top to replace the one he had accidentally pulled. Once I figured I could not convince him to change his mind, I reluctantly went with him inside. We chose a sweater that I still wear today. I will not forget that gesture.

He probably never told you, but after leaving the store, we bumped into a well known receiver for the Denver Broncos. Poor J.B. had no idea who he was, but as a side note, I am a huge fan and will never forget that day. Meeting the bronco was just a bonus I guess.

I'm sure there are so many more meaningful stories than mine exemplifying his generosity and kindness, but I just wanted to let you know that I was glad to have known your son and thank you so much for raising such a wonderful young man.

Look at that smile! :)

We have heard a number of comments over the last month and a half about Jamin's smile. It was without a doubt . . . beautiful. Genetically speaking he was blessed. His teeth were perfectly straight without ever needing braces, they were blindingly white, not too big or too small and, thanks to Jamin's meticulous dental hygiene, without a single cavity (thanks in part to a wonderful family dentist that was kind enough to attend the memorial service in Denver). But, above all else the best part of Jamin's smile was that he knew how to use it. It was hard to catch Jamin without it spread wide across his face. No matter how you were feeling it always had the tendency to brighten a person's day because you knew that behind those brilliant set of teeth was a sincere person who genuinely cared for others.

I don't know if others noticed this but it always cracked me up whenever I had to stand next to Jamin in a picture because someone had once told him that your best smile is when you look like you have just come out of a really good laugh. Well, Jamin latched onto this idea and ran with it so in every photo opportunity that I had with him I would always catch him shaking ever so slightly out of the corner of my eye because he had just figured out a way to make himself chuckle (and of course whenever he laughed his whole body was also involved). The funniest thing though, is that whenever we had family photo shoots Jamin would try his fail proof smiling technique and yet somehow he was always the one person in the picture that had his eyes closed or was unknowingly doing something else that ruined the family portrait. Ha, ha.

One other funny story I will recall in regards to Jamin's smile . . . I mentioned earlier that Jamin had no cavities. Well, that was not entirely true. He apparently did have one cavity but only as of last August. I found out about it when Parker and I went to visit him in Germany. I forget what brought it up in conversation but somehow or another it came out that Jamin had in fact gotten the first cavity of his life. He was of course very upset (it wasn't that he was vain about his perfect set of teeth but he was very proud of them) whereas I on the other hand was smiling on the inside. I had taken care of my teeth just as diligently as he had over all these years and yet had managed to make a few of those extra unwanted trips to the dentist. Finally, my brother was going to feel the wrath of the drill and the humiliation of a numb tounge. However, before I was able to relish in my own delight inwardly for too long, Jamin made a comment that was just so typical of him and had me laughing out loud within an instant. He said "I nearly got a second opinion because I didn't quite believe that it was true. I don't know if I trust those guys." Ha, ha . . . yes Jamin you are human and humans do get cavities every once in awhile - even you!