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Welcome to Jim's Life
Aircraft pictures
Flight Simulater
JR 20000
1999 Vacation
I was born and raised in a small
town 50
miles North of Chicago Illinois
on a stormy
night the 9th of April 1950.
Father Paul Raper.
This was told to me by my Grand mother, on my Dad's side of the family, "Raper" ,Sweetest person I've ever met. It shows on my Dad's only sister louse, whom is also very sweet. Sitting here with my Great Aunt Ethyl. Dad only had one older, brother John.
Mom and Dad were married 1946. 1996. I was the baby of three kids. Paulette , 4 years older than my self, Bill , 3 years older. We were very close as kid's. When I was ten years old ,Mom Started over and began to enlarge the family by three more. Two sisters , and a brother. Annette ,( Sister 10 years younger), Lynnette ,(sister between Dale and Annette). The youngest brother "Dale" , who has left us at an early age of 32, for more detail click "Tribuit to Dale" on top of page. My parents moved to Forida, Tampa Bay area. I Divorsed my first wife and moved there also in 1970, thanksiving day to be exact. Couple years back Mom and Dad had their 50 th anniversary. Of coarse Dad went for the cake. My home town of Zion was founded in 1900 by Dr. Dowie who came from Australia. he began the followers of the, then, Christian Catholic Church. Now called "Christ community Church" All the names of the streets were names out of the bible. Every one knew each other in Zion, when I grew up in the 50's ,and 60's. It was so small there wasn't much to do but run the streets on bikes until old enough to cruise around in fast cars. That made Chicago accessible to us young kid's. A one hour ride in a car North or south, and you were in the big city. Chicago 50 miles South, Milwaukee 50 miles North. I've been around the states and came to fine Chicago to be the nicest city of it's size any where. As a teen I seen the money was being made in food store's. Stock boy's were making top dollar. I went right down and got a job at Jewel Tea food chain. I got on a manager trainee program. So as a teen I had one profession down. Being in a cold climate in side work is nice. Plus the money was fantastic. Car's played a big part of my life. My dad had mostly new Buicks so they are my preference. First one I remember is a 1953 the front looked just like this one. The second was a nice powder blue 1958 The fins were great. Then Dad in 1963 ordered a 1963 4 dr. burgundy Special with a small V8. We went to pick it up and it had not come in yet so my dad took a red 2 dr. off the show room floor. A nice 225 cu. in. "Fireball V6 " in this red buick . I would take the car out with friends and run around most of the night. while my parents slept. I think my dad always knew and never said any thing. This is my favorite Sports car. A 1965 Skylark GS with a Wildcat 425 cu. in motor ,a good friend back when I was 17 had one that had been ported polished and a hugh Holly carb was put on it. That car flew . We would drag race it in Union Grove Wis. It would do 105 miles an hour in the Standing 1/4 mile. Here is one I found on the net that looks like it. 1965 drag Skylark . My favorite Comfortable car was the 1965 Riviera. As a teen my dad took me to almost every NASCAR race held in our area, with in driving distance. Zion really prepared a kid growing up for the real world, On the North of Zion was Winthrop Harbor, KKK all the way at that time. To the South just past Waulkegan was North Chicago , in them days was the same as the KKK except it was the Black's there instead of the White's. "Thank God it has changed" Growing up being pumped with the info, ("love your neighbor"), from the Churchs , and watching all the violence on both sides made you really think a lot on life's value's ,and also let you see that a lot of people had no value's. It's very nice there right on Lake Michigan. As soon as I was old enough I went South to fine the warmth of the sun. Florida, Tampa was the spot to go for a Northern boy fresh
out of school and a short 1 year marriage gone bad. The South looked real nice so I moved around from Fla. to San Diego Calif. stopping in Dallas for a few years on the way. While in Dallas ,the mid 80's,I ran the maintenance for some sets of Condominium's. A lady there had a car with a flat tire that had to be moved it was dirty and with the flat it looked bad. People started to complain. It was a 1965 Buick Skylark. I asked her to move it and she said she wanted to sell it. She told me to give her a price. I said $150.00 She sold it to me for that. I fixed the flat and cleaned it up. Ran like new.
My dad is a very smart man, he never made us kids do every thing he did, but he made sure we at least watch it being done. So when I moved around it was no problem having the ability to get a job.
Got to admit Florida beaches can't be beat. plus the temperature is the warmest in the continental United states. Tampa was to nice to work inside. Construction work was perfect. Being out side all day. I became a Carpenter. The money was good enough to take part of the year off each year. A big plus , they teach you so much on construction site's. I found most people don't care to further them selves, and in return when time came to get a new job they had no idea how. If you learned what they showed you , you could get a job on any construction site in the states.
In 1989 I was in Tampa and feel in love with the person I'm with now. My new love of my life lived in Montréal , Que. So with in the mo. I moved to Montréal , and I have been here every since. My blue caddy made it's last stop Montreal. Frank said he had a motorcycle we would ride back to florida on. Surprise it was in pieces in a 3 rd floor apt. So he did all the Mech's and I did all the paint and polishing. 1971 BMW/5.
A few years back my mother came up , we went down to the Archives National and looked up her grand mother , on her mother's side of the family. Found lots of relatives all the way back to 1655 Quebec
City then called Place Royal. So here I am in Montréal. That's my life. From Zion to Montréal. Illinois to Quebec. Now a lot of my time in taken up by my garden. Also putting up with all the snow. I just got back from a great vacation. I drove a nice 1993 Buick regal from Montréal to Tampa by way of Ohio. Then on the way back by way of Chicago.