Looking back over some issues of the Hartselle Enquirer from many years ago, I noticed that when a person died instead of a traditional obituary, the headline might read “John Smith went to Glory.” When I heard the news of Jim Grissom passing from this life, the old headlines came back to my mind. Without any doubt in my mind, we could have used this headline for his obituary-: “Jim Grissom moved into his Heavenly home.”

I met Jim over 20 years ago when I worked in retail and he was one of those people who made an impression on you. Whether it was his sense of humor or just the fact that he was a genuine people person, you could not help but like the man. When I came to work for the Hartselle Enquirer Jim was one of my customers that I called on for advertising.

Whenever I walked into his business, his usual question was “What are you peddling today?” Normally we discussed everything else before talking business, which was what I was actually coming into his office about. However, you never left a conversation with Jim that you did not take something away on a positive note. I always enjoyed our conversations and our attempts to solve the problems of our communities, state or nation, and I will miss them.

We talked about our families, friends and acquaintances that we held in common. We discussed our children and in his case, grandchildren, and it was very apparent how important both his family and friends were to him. We talked about our church homes and families, and had a few deep discussions about our faith.

He left this world unexpectedly, and too soon, and will be greatly missed by his family, friends, church family and his community. Not one of us knows when our time on earth will be over and we enter eternity, but he knew where his final destination would be. How much better our lives are when we know what we have to look forward to, when we do leave this place.

After I started writing this column, he remarked on more than one occasion about something I had written about in the newspaper. I am not a writer but I do enjoy sharing my thoughts and sometimes my opinions in this space each week. So to say, so long for now, I thought doing so here would be appropriate. I know you are enjoying your new home in Glory, so until we meet again, you will be remembered.

Randy Garrison is the president and publisher of the Hartselle Enquirer.