When exceptional people enter the room, they can take all the oxygen, but James Andrew Lore had the gift of adding to it.
Even at his funeral, held in the Crossfield Community Hall between Christmas and the new year, the Central Alberta farmer, agronomist, patriarch, community leader and amateur athlete filled the room of more than 300 family and friends with the oxygen of his presence and energy.
Jim loved poetry, from A.E. Houseman to Robert Service, and recited three of his favourites at the funeral in a recording played to the mourners. His way of getting in the last word one last time.
The first opened the service and was the story of a dog with diabetes called The Romance of Rex, a witty piece first published in 1935, four years after Jim was born in Bassano.
The second two poems, played later in the service, were the Service classics: The Shooting of Dan McGrew and the Cremation of Sam McGee.
For Jim, farming was science and he was accomplished at it.
In 1953, he earned a University of Alberta degree in agronomy, and consulted and taught as well as operating his own farm.
He learned the hard-working way that university tuition was cheap compared with the education he received on his land.
Among other things, he raised Limousin cattle and one of his many farm organization achievements was to serve as president of the Canadian Limousin Association in 1977. Jim was a Mason for 53 years with the Acme Lodge, drawn to the ethical and moral practices championed by this order.
He sat on the boards of Olds College and Carstairs Bancroft United Church.
He loved to curl, golf, ski and was pretty good at all those. It speaks to his eclectic life that he was a member of the Rocky Mountain Ski and Debating Society.
It would take this entire page just to list the bare bones of his professional, community leadership, political and volunteer life.
Jim, a quietly spiritual man, chose a passage from the Gospel of Matthew to be read at his funeral: "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. They put it on its stand, to give light to everyone in the house.
"In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
The light he shone was unconditional love, the New Testament brand of love that put others first.
He knew love first hand. First with June, his bride of 64 years. Then with his five children, ten granddaughters and four great-grandchildren, and as a friend. Then with his neighbours and a nationwide network of associates in agriculture, politics and education.
Now, Jim was no saint. He was a salty, bawdy, imperfect man. He knew first hand what it means to need forgiveness.
But his light in the world was the dignity, compassion, kindness and unselfishness with which he greeted each day, each challenge and each person.
From one perspective, Jim Lore was larger than life.
From the best perspective, his was a life lived as it should be.
- Frank Dabbs is a veteran political and business journalist and author.
