James Kenneth Pore

Hello, I’m Brian Clay. Jim called me Beep, a childhood nickname. Where to start? I guess from the beginning. We are first cousins; my mother and his father are brother and sister. We are only one month apart in age. We grew up together in South Western Pennsylvania in the small town of Belle Vernon in the Village of Fairhope.   Not only did we share our connecting backyards but we shared the same experiences growing up from childhood to adulthood. Over the years we have always stayed in touch with phone calls and e-mails and got together whenever we could.  We had a lot in common we both have two daughters and love them dearly. Looking through some of the many e-mails that he shared with me I could tell the love for his family runs deep. He would talk about Marissa and Gracie with love and affection. Most of his e-mails and phone conversations were about cars, family and others were about sports (Steelers),patriotic and Christian based.  We never talked much about our wives but I know he loves his wife Renee dearly. He wrote a short story titled “Long Hauler” which was our adventures during the Hot Rod Power tour which I’ll come back to later. In his story he talks about his soul mate with beautiful brown eyes he loves you Renee.

 

We worked together at Jake’s Pizza when we were in high school. So many memories there of flipping pizzas and spending time together. When we would close, we would get off at midnight. One night on the way home from work, Jim came up with the brilliant idea that he would drive home backwards and for me to follow him so that he could see by my headlights. He didn’t wait until we got in the country; he drove all the way home from downtown Belle Vernon to our neighborhood in Fairhope backwards with me close behind, with only an occasional mishap of veering off the road , but he would start over again he wouldn’t stop, he had to finish what he started. With the help of his Dad (Uncle Kay) getting me a job at Bettis we would be working at the same site again. This was the beginning of our career jobs in the Nuclear profession. We both made a good living doing something that we enjoyed. Later in life we talked about our career choices and how well we did. Thank you Jimmy for talking me into a great career. Thanks again Uncle Kay for giving us the opportunity to get started. Working at Bettis as a contractor was not a long term job but gave us the start to seek new adventures in this Nuclear career. Jimmy worked for Chem Nuclear and I worked for Allied Nuclear which sent us off in different directions. While he was working at the Plymouth site in Massachusetts Todd Chester and I went to visit for a week. We ended up in the ocean; the water is very cold in Massachusetts in April.  Jim was the best man in our wedding bringing laughter and excitement to our special day, you can see by looking at our Wedding photo album there was never a dull moment. I later visited him at Hardeeville race track while he was working at the Barnwell site where he entered a motocross race. It was so hot that day over 100 degrees. During the years we would see each other occasionally back home in Pennsylvania. He would stop at our house in North Carolina from time to time while passing through. One particular time we had a garage raising get together. Jimmy’s truck was the lifesaver in getting more supplies as the project of a garage raising spread into adding on to a deck and building a screened in porch. His truck was a Chevy (of course) S-10 which he made into a convertible by cutting the roof off in a friends backyard with a sawzall. He did have a kit which turned out very well. The only convertible delivery truck I know of. With his help along with other family members we built a garage, screened in porch and added on to a deck over one Easter weekend. Thanks again everyone who helped out.

 

When I think of Jim or Jimmy, I think about his sense of adventure, his appreciation for life. We went to Jim and Renee’s Wedding what a beautiful time.  The whole thing was beautiful, Renee beautiful as ever was on a huge sailboat and the guys were in a motorboat which rendezvued  with them, what an adventure.  I was glad to be part of a beautiful family beginning. 

 

He did things his way and had an uncanny knack of talking me into things which for the most part I’m glad he did. From simple things like a sausage egg and cheese biscuit. During our high school years and shortly afterwards we would meet at McDonalds and head off from there. I give him the credit of inventing the sausage egg and cheese biscuit. He would buy the sausage patty separate from the egg biscuit and put them together and make a sandwich. McDonalds didn’t sell the well known sausage egg and cheese biscuit until later. To this day and forever more will be my choice of a morning biscuit. Thanks again Jimmy! Somehow he talked me and Uncle Kay into buying a disco ball that rotated with a spot light to give it the appearance of snow reflecting on your house as a Christmas decoration. Not one of his better ideas but he wanted us to enjoy life as he did. He sent us pictures of Christmas decorations of their home in Florida where he decorated not only their yard but his boat too. I think it won first place. We talked about the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus and how terrible it is that people are getting away from that. One e-mail he sent me, although I can’t seem to find it, talked about the controversy of the terms BC and AD and changing them to BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era). Jimmy was irate at the fact that they were thinking about changing this and said he was determined that from now on he was going to write AD (Ano Domini) which translates “in the year of our lord” after he wrote the date. I don’t know how all that turned out but I know he is a Christian and we will see him again someday in Heaven.

 

He loves God, his wife, daughters, family and friends, but he also had a love for cars. Jim wrote “Since I was a toddler, riding in a car day or night I knew the taillights and headlights of all the different makes and models. I’ve always been captivated by personal transportation. Especially the more powerful and faster examples” We spent a lot of time together either working on cars talking about cars or enjoying how fast we could make them go. He talked me into going to Keystone Drag strip in Pennsylvania a few times and running our cars. We would all meet at McDonalds and off we go on another adventure. I don’t know how it all started but Jim found out about people racing a few towns over in Suterville on a straight country road with a small bridge not far after the quarter mile mark for the winner to cross first. Pretty cool setup. Jim would call it Suterville International. One particular night he beat me and put a small sign on my front license plate that said something like I lost to a Chevy or I got beat by a Chevy.  I didn’t notice it right away but back at McDonalds I did. It didn’t set to well with me, at the time I had a 71 Mustang. He did it in fun and meant no harm in it we laughed about it later that night. We took a few road trips over the years.  When he was living in Florida he stopped by North Carolina picked me up and off we went to our class reunion in Pennsylvania the times we had just talking and catching up on old times are great memories. His company Energy Solutions was having an annual meeting in Columbia South Carolina. He talked me into going with him, being in the same profession I agreed to go. I wanted to see him and for him to see my new old car which was a Chevy Camaro. Anything about cars I could call Jim and he would give me great advice, he is a much bigger gear head than me so before I bought the Camaro I called him and we talked about it, I gave him all the particulars on it, he reminded me of some areas to look for and look out for on a used car. I trust him more than anybody when it comes to cars. Long story short I bought the car and wanted to show him in Columbia so off I went on another adventure. He gave it his approval after driving it. He loved GM cars especially ones with a bow tie on them (Chevy emblem). At our wedding Jim along with some help decorated Terry’s car( my Wife). He put flames down both sides with shoe polish with the words “Beep finally owns a Chevy” they also jacked up the front end so the wheels were off the ground. He loves having a good time and has an awesome imagination and sense of adventure.

 

He talked me into going on the Hot Rod Power tour. An event sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine which has some of the wildest cars along with daily drivers from everywhere. It is a traveling car show which stops in six cities in seven days. Having a chance to spend quality time with him along with seeing 3000 muscle cars how could I say no. This is one trip I will remember forever. Jim was doing the whole tour which would end up in Texas. The ones who go the distance are called “Long Haulers” He was driving a 1960 EL Camino along with friends Pat and Dennis in a 70 Chevelle. Bob driving his Camaro would leave from Flordia and meet them in Nashville.  I would meet up with them in New Orleans and finish the trip to Dallas. I got to meet Jim’s friends Pat, Dennis and Bob and off we went to see the sites. We were not real impressed with New Orleans we walked down Bourbon street, what a tourist trap we enjoyed some bands playing and had a great meal. The next morning we got up ate breakfast and hit the highway I was on an adventure I would never forget. Riding shotgun next to Jim was priceless we would take pictures of cars we passed and they would take pictures of us. Jim’s car was awesome. Everywhere you looked was classic cars of all types, what an amazing time. First stop No problem raceway ate lunch and watched some drag racing. Back on the road again and heading to Lake Charles, riding shotgun checking out the sites, classic cars everywhere heading in the same direction. It started to rain a little with big dark sky in the distance. Bob called us saying smoke is coming from our car at that time we heard the rapping sound not a happy sound. We made a quick pit stop and found the fuel pumps mounting bolts worked loose and the lash from the pump rod was making the racket. With a nine sixteenths wrench and adding some oil Jim had us back on the road. The car was running good and the sky was clearing what a great day. We met Vic Edelbrock in Lake Charles who sponsored that evenings dinner BBQ, what a meal over two thousand people feed quickly. We watched the dyno for awhile, saw a truck powered by a helicopter engine what a site that was when he fired that beast up. All sorts of cars, unbelievable! The dark sky was getting closer so we headed off to the hotel. As we were leaving it started to rain a gully washer. There was a strange noise coming from the rear end of the truck. Every time Jim let the clutch out it would make the noise. He said we need to fix that tomorrow he said he fixed the lower control arm mount about six months ago had the same noise. We continued on through a total downpour to the hotel. We had some problems checking in but that was nothing compared to what was happening with Jim. He was having a heart attack. Bob drove us to the hospital they hooked up all kind of wires and gave him morphine for the pain. We were allowed to be in the same room but said they needed to get him to a bigger better hospital. The pain would come and go but he would talk to us in between them. Bob was asking questions like what are we going to do with the car? Was Brian staying here with you or was he going on the tour? I was asking questions too, where’s the banging noise coming from? How do you fix it? The morphine was kicking in when he answered. “Excuse me for having a heart attack!” We all cracked up. He asked for a pen and paper and started to draw the underside of his truck. He showed me where the lower control arm broke last time on the passenger side, he told me to check there first if not there on the drivers side look for something loose. What a drawing, I wish I had kept it. It was almost midnight but we came up with a plan. Jim was going to be transferred to a bigger better hospital, Bob would continue on the tour and I would get the truck fixed then break him out of the hospital and catch up with the tour. After a few more “excuse me for having a heart attack” with all of us laughing even the nurse. We headed back to the hotel. Bob got a flashlight and we climbed under Jim’s truck to find exactly what Jim had drawn on the paper, a broken lower control arm which would need to be welded. Long story short I got the truck fixed found the bigger better hospital and went to see Jim. He had not had surgery yet but would latter that day. He was pretty groggy but was happy to hear the El Camino was ready to go. The surgery was a success putting a stent in his artery. We spent the night at the hospital but he wanted to get on the road we talked about just leaving and then reconsidered when we started thinking about insurance and if they would cover anything if he didn’t get released. So we waited and waited he got a little upset and finally convinced the doctor’s assistant to release him. On the road again we would talk for a while and he would call Renee, Bob and his Dad and we would talk some more. We were making great time and then I must have run over something the right front tire had a blow out. We got out and found a gash in the tire. We had no spare tire so I started walking to find out what mile marker we were at so we could call roadside assistance. Before I got to the mile marker A car stopped, another story in itself but Larry a homeless guy who lived in his car helped us get on our way with some help from a tire changer at the next towns Walmart who sold me his spare tire for $15. Thank you Jesus! On the road again some other minor problems but nothing that would stop us now, a rock hit the windshield small crack master cylinder leaking causing us to pump the breaks to slow down but we made it to Jims house around midnight with Renee and Bob and some neighbors waiting up to see us. We got up early the next morning and headed to Dallas to meet up with the tour on the last stop. We made it! Thanks Jim!   This is a sad day. I would follow Jim anywhere. I know Jim is going to Heaven where I will meet up with him someday.

 

                                                                                    From your cousin, Beep