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The phone rang about two weeks ago. It was a
prospective client. He wanted to know all of my open
dates for the rest of the year. He was most interested
in the 30th of September. He told me the last day of
season had a special meaning to him.
I penciled in the 30th of September for Jim. I asked
him where he had heard about my guide business from.
He said a buddy of his recommended me to him. I tried
to give him my website address so he could look at my
photos on my site. Jim said: "I am old school." "I
don't own a computer and don't care to."
We had a long talk on the phone. He told me he was
79 years old and had trout fished since he was 4 years
old. He got nostalgic with me and told about his
father and his first time trout fishing with his dad.
He told me all of his fishin buds had passed and the
only one of his relatives that even listened to him
anyomre about trout fishing was his grand daughter
Emma.
By the end of the conversation I felt I knew Jim
quite well. He wasn't that concerned about catching
big trout or a lot of trout. He just wanted to get out
one last time before the end of the season.
Jim told me he was not in the best of health and I
should pick an easy couple places for him to fish. I
told him I had many such places and it would be a
learning experience for me also to watch a trout
fisherman of 75 years.
Two days later I got a call from his grand daughter.
She (Emma) said her grampa was dancing around like a
spring chicken. She had gone to visit him that
morning. He was cleaning up his gear. He was talking
about going trout fishing with me. Emma also told me
that I should take Gramp Jim to easy areas that didn't
require much walking. I reassured her that I would be
careful and not stress Gramp Jim.
She had looked at my website. She asked if her
grandpa had sent the deposit to me required for a half
day outing. I told her that I was not going to charge
her grandpa for the outing. She was a little puzzled.
I told her that if my dad was still around he would
have been 79 years old and it would be like fishing
with my dad again. Her voice got a little broken and
she said: " My worries are gone now."... "You will
take good care of my Gramp Jim."
My phone rang this morning. It was Emma. She was
crying. She told me that she had to cancel the outing
for her Gramp Jim. He wasn't going to make it... He
had died in his sleep last night.
She said "I am certain he was dreaming about trout
fishing, It was the only thing he had talked about for
the last week."
Photo by: Emma Stevenson
Taken September 30th ,2001
The Last Time Jim Stevenson went trout fishing. ~ Len Harris
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