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March, 2010
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TH News Editor
Lots of residents in Tuscany Hills already know the wit and wisdom of long time resident Jim Brady. This active gentleman, father, activist and scholar belies his age of "almost 66" as he involves himself with just about everything one could name.
What many people don't know is that he reads voraciously, going through seven to 10 books every single week. No small accomplishment when one considers the breadth of what Jim enjoys from fiction, non-fiction and politics. "I have a library of conservatives," he laughs describing how and what he spends most of his time following.
No stranger to the Homeowners Board meetings, City Council meetings, and other politically sensitive activities, Jim enjoys and thrives on being where the action is, especially if he can effect change or improve the understanding of others in terms of clarifying what is really going on and being said.
Jim and his wife Sharon have been married since 1965. He reminisces about growing up on the Illinois-Wisconsin borders in farm country and he smiles saying he was the "cocky guy" who asked his wife out when others couldn'tÊget a date with her. He is proud of earning his college degree in four and a half years and working full time while studying. "Just have to put your mind in gear," he states matter of factly. He is into genealogy and has a family history that stretches back to being related to the youngest general at Gettysburg in the Civil War as well as to the English court of Henry VIII. "Not too bad for a boy simply born in a farm house," he says.
Now, the couple who sold their Murrieta home and moved to Tuscany Hills in 2001 for the great view, not only enjoy each other, their two grown children, their accomplished grandchildren, their two adorable dogs, Callie and Boomer, are really enjoying life on the hill.
ÊTheir rustic Southwestern flavored home features all kinds of eclecticÊdecor and furnishing and Jim did all the wood floor planking himself.
Jim talks with great pride about the couple'sÊvarious grandchildren: one is on the state hockey team, oneÊalready aced the SATÊexams in both science and math, another created software that has been sold over PayPal for tracking children's computer use at home that parents can buy for a modest $15.95. "Thought it up in an afternoon, wrote the program and sold it, and it's evasive, not on the hard drive so kids don't know their parents can check up on them," muses Jim, "That kid is amazing."
The couple has lived in a variety of places over the years and the tales Jim weaves about the companies he has worked for all end on the same note: someone buys them up and either keeps Jim on or eliminates his position and Jim, like the proverbial rubber ducky, just bobs up in another position and never loses a beat, whether it was in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburg, or here on the West Coast.
Now retired, he walks four days a week and everyone knows him as he brings Boomer along, plays pickleball three days a week, and has a "honey-do" list that like Topsy, just keeps on growing and going. He has served on the Tuscany Hills Architectural Committee as its chairman, in the Lake Elsinore Citizens Committee with Donna Franson, is CERT trained and is a current captain in the React team with the Lake Elsinore Corps. In January he was once again at the City Council podium, expressing concern about the grading problems on the La Strada project and talking about the problems the dump truck created on the Summerhill roadway. Jim also points out he got involved in several activities in Tuscany Hills because of his neighbor and friend Andy Currie's urging.ÊHe and Andy talk and laugh about what they have been involved with during their time at Tuscany and both note how being active keeps them busy.
Jim says he was a boating enthusiast until he came to California and saw the water conditions.ÊNow, he is content just to view the lake from afar.
During his many years in business, heÊtalks about air travelÊ and flying next toÊCalifornia's current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was still jet setting to world body building competitions. Another flight Jim was able to sit next to columnist-author Art Buchwald, and the stories keep getting better and better.
All of a sudden one of his wife's birds comes to life and adds life to the conversation. A huge white cockatiel, "Sami" puts in his two-cents worth before settling down to let Jim explain his love of pickleball.Ê
Jim's easy going manner is part of his Midwestern farm country upbringing. He talks about being the only house with a television in 1948 and how people would gather to watch the Wednesday Night fightsÊalong with a lifestyle that definitely was not in the freeway fast lane rush to get from place to place. He keeps tabs on people he has known since the first grade, using email and loves to chat using the electronic medium and sends various items (mainly political) to about 50 people every single day. He notes he gets all his news from the internet, the computer and Fox News and he is always eager and prepared to take on all comers when it revolves around the political situation of America.
Sometimes, "my wife thinks I'm a radical nut," he says, but it is very clear that Jim is always "loaded for bear" and can back up his statements with more than mere opinion. He knows where to get facts, figures, and prime examples of where things are going left of center in any arena. Most of those he keeps in contact with on Facebook are from his high school class. "There are 18 out of a class of 108 on Facebook and we are all pretty active," he claims of the 1961Êgraduates.
During the bad rain storms in January, Jim took pictures of the fish that appeared almost by magic in his yard. He figures there was a water spout of some kind that whipped them from Canyon Lake into hisÊgrass and at least according to his rain gauges, some 10.2 inches of rain fell in the Tuscany neighborhood where he and Sharon live.
Each day is a new adventure for Jim and each week as he finishes another group of books, he is even more armed and ready to take on what comes his way. He is looking forward to when Sharon retires and can join him in his full time adventures. "Won't be too long now," he quips.
