James "Jim" Waldron

James "Jim" Waldron was born on December 5, 1955 in Philadelphia, PA.  He graduated from Temple University and was fond of telling people that he'd been classmates with Bob Saget of "Full House" fame.  He held many positions over the next several years before deciding to   give his life to God and become an ordained Roman Catholic monk with the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in Washington, DC.  He served with the Oblates for almost ten years but decided to leave before taking permanent vows because, as he put it, he realized he wanted a wife and family.

Several years later Jim found himself accepting a position in Little Rock as a hospital chaplain at St. Vincent Infirmary (now CHI St. Vincent).  He eventually took other positions in the Little Rock area including Director at Sylvan Learning Center.  He liked to say that his friends back in Philly would ask him why he was staying in Little Rock, and he would answer, "Because when they ask how you're doing, they stick around for the answer!"

In early 2000, when he remarked to a friend that he still wanted to someday marry and settle down, that friend suggested he do something that at the time was still relatively new--post a personal ad online. He did just that, titling his ad, "Gentleman Caller Seeks Southern Belle."  That ad caught the attention of Phyllis Boatman, a lifelong Southerner and college English instructor, and after their first date Jim was smitten--so much so that he proposed on their second date.  They celebrated their 20th anniversary on December 16, 2020.

Jim learned first thing that Phyllis was a "package deal"--i.e., love her, love her cats.  Jim was a self-avowed "dog person" but fell in love with a kitten Phyllis rescued from the side of the highway and named him Zephyr--and his love affair with all things feline began.   He was especially besotted with a kitten they adopted a few years later to keep Zephyr company and named her Zena, as in "Xena, Warrior Princess."  His love affair with Zena began when he went to the shelter in Magnolia to look at adoptable kittens, and Zena climbed up on his shoulder when she was suggested as a possible adoptable kitty.  She continued the habit of climbing up on his shoulder all her life, and whenever she heard him coming home, she would run and jump on the arm of his recliner to wait on him. Jim and Phyllis had other cats over the years, but Zena and Zephyr were extra special to Jim because they were the first felines he owned.    Jim and Phyllis never had children, at least not the two-legged kind (as they were fond of saying)--but they had many cats over the years that they considered the four-legged kind.

Jim's friends remember him as smart, funny, and very outgoing.  He was a proud honorary Southerner who learned the correct usage of the word "y'all" thanks to his wife, and the correct way to order iced tea (ordering "tea" automatically meant you wanted--and got-- sweet tea). He will be greatly missed by his sweet Southern belle wife Phyllis as well as a host of friends and family.  His immediate family includes brothers Richard (Cynthia) of Dallas and Kevin (Jeanne) of Philadelphia.  He is preceded in death by a sister, Joan, and his twin brother, John.

Memorial service will be 11:00AM Thursday, September 2, 2021 at Smith-Sherwood Funeral Home (7700 Hwy 107) with visitation one hour prior to the service.