James Hubert McCaskill was born on May 18, 1937 and passed away on November 5, 2018.
Deepest sympathy to Bettye and other family members in the loss of their Jimmy, and our Jim. I don't remember the year Jim started teaching at Wakefield High School -- before 19980, I'd say -- but we've been friends ever since, with my daughter Melanie getting to know him better at the Career Center in the 1990's. After our mutual retirements from the school system, Jim and I worked closely together in ARTA, Arlington Retired Teachers Association, of which he was president 1999-2001, even though he traveled often during that time: in the ARTA newsletter, of which I'm the editor, I had a feature "Where on earth is Jim now?" Jim said it was the government's fault that he traveled so much, as they gave him that empty passport and expected him to fill it up! He and Melanie became daily email pals during the years he lived in Scotland, to help keep him up to date on happenings here, he said, and continued that up till his sudden final illness. He was at my sister's grave for the funeral three years ago, filled her chair at our Thanksgiving table, appeared in Melanie's hospital room after her hip replacement surgery last year, shared our mutual love of cats, celebrated all birthdays with us. . . . Like so many others do, we treasure our memories of him and will always miss him.
Jim and I shared 50 years of a close friendship., starting at Woodlawn High School.I stayed with him in Scotland for a lovely visit and we wento Turkey together. And he visited us in Maine.In between we shared lunches and zillions of emails. He was a wonderful friend and his death leaves a big hole in my heart and life.