James Worsley

James Worsley, age 54, passed away on December 27, 2010.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Leslie Matthews of Bradley, IL; his father, Joseph Worsley, his grandparents, Monnie Hartsfield and Wheeler Hartsfield; and a great niece, Madison Estopinal.
He is survived by his mother, Vesta Tankersley; his two sons, Dorian Worlsey and James Worsley, Jr; his sisters, Sue A. Worsley, Cindy Worsley LaFort and her husband, Adrian, and their sons, Shawn and Jared, and Karen Bourque; his uncle, Danny Hartsfield and his wife, Pam; and a niece, Kim Estopinal and her sons, Noah and Joseph.
A veteran of the U.S. Army, James specialized in canine training and this speciality and love for canines has remained throughout his life. He was a Jefferson Parish Reserve Police officer. James loved his truck driving experience. Deeply devoted to his wife, he was her caregiver for eleven years.
A Tribute to James M. Worsley
We no longer called him Jimmy, now he wanted to be called James.
James Marshall Worsley earned the right to be a man and no longer needed a boy's
name. Last time I saw him goes back some 34 years ago when he came to see Pam and I
in our home in Lucedale. At the end of our visit he and I talked and in trying to reach out
to him I mentioned to him that he needed to have Jesus in his life. He didn't really give me
a response. After he left we didn't keep in touch and I had no idea what happened to him
until about five years ago when my mother (Monnie Hartsfield) passed away. She requested
to have her grand-sons be pallbearer at her funeral. Upon contacting all the grandsons
I could not find James and none of our family members knew how to find him either?
The funeral passed and I continued to search for James. After some time Sue and Cindy
his sisters found him and went to see him. James was living up in Illinois with his wife Leslie.
James was very private and basically wanted to be left alone. He did after some time through his
sisters allow me to email him.
Then gave me his phone number and after 34 years we talked to each other on the phone.
At time I was making a job change to Alaska. We slowly began to re-connect and he reluctantly,
after a while began to open up to me and tell me about his life.
After his sisters went to see him they also began to tell me about James' health condition
and Leslie's as well. James was now disabled from Emphysema and COPD, he was also now the
primary caregiver for Leslie, now suffering from severe Multiple Sclerosis. Leslie was paralyzed
from the neck down and was totally dependant on James. His sisters were very concerned about
both their health as well as James' spiritual condition and comments about God and the devil.
They ask me to see if I could get James to come to Jesus, or come back to God through his son
Jesus. I agreed to help!
At first James was very abrasive and very negative about the subject of God or coming to Jesus.
He actually told me he did not believe in God or the devil. I continued to reach out to him and
love him anyway. I ask him about the night we were together when I received Christ (1973)
and did he make a decision for salvation? I got no response James would only avoid the
questions. I even sent him the movie called the Passion of the Christ DVD. He told me he gave
it to a neighbor. I was even asking the local church there to go visit him.
As time passed on (2 years) James and I built a new trust, a long distant friendship,
with me working in Alaska and him in Illinois. I would call/email him almost on a weekly basis
and talk to him and Leslie on the speaker phone together. Over time I was able to pray for Leslie
and James and for their grandson (Nathan) now serving in the military and stationed in Afghanistan.
We would talk about things we had in common. I would email them pics from the outdoors in Alaska,
we talked about Leslie, the Gulf war, his k9 training, martial arts, firearms, truck driving etc,
but by spring of 2010 Leslie began to fade and slip away. I continued to talk James through
the painful process from Alaska daily and hourly until Leslie passed into heaven (July 2010). Leslie was a Christian and now I had to convince James that he too could join her in heaven.
James later moved back south with Sue. His health also began to go
very quickly. We got together with him for Thanksgiving (2010) and a few weeks later James
ask me to come talk to him about God and answer his questions. A few weeks later I invited him
to come and sleep over at our home and go to our Christmas musical he agreed and was
overcome with joy. His comment was ""I've never seen or heard a program like that before?
His whole attitude had changed and he was filled with the joy of God's son Jesus Christ,
he even told me ""Merry Christmas"", then on Dec. 27th, 2010 James went to join Leslie in
Heaven and to be with Jesus for eternity. Thanks to Sue and Cindy for allowing God to work
and many others who prayed for him in reaching out to James for Christ sake.
Amen, God's in control, from his uncle Danny and aunt Pam
Danny and Pam Hartsfield, Dec. 29th, 2010
Praise God for James and we thank God for getting to know him again and for saving James.
Another Tribute from Cari:
James, ""Uncle Jimmy"" as I knew him, couldn't have been very old the first time he appears in my memories. If I was 7 or 8, what age would that have made him? We were in Mississippi, a family gathering at Grandma Hartfield's house, when Jimmy arrived in a car that reminded me of the Dukes Of Hazard. When I found out who he was, I recalled some of the things I had heard the adults around had said about Uncle Jimmy. He was the ""wild one"" and ""the black sheep."" Thats what I was thinking when he hugged me that day he showed up. As hard as I try- I cant remember what he said when we were all standing around after his arrival, but I remember thinking it was funny. When I smiled- Uncle Jimmy said I had a cute smile. I thought he was nice guy from that moment on. I wish I could say that we all had a great day, but sadly the family gathering turned bleak. There was fighting and yelling later in the afternoon- and for whatever reason- Jimmy ended up taking a few of the kids for a ride to escape it. I remember laughing so hard at a joke he made about cows! It might even have been the first time I laughed so hard my side hurt. He was making jokes and getting us laughing the entire little joy ride. I know its just one day in a vast memory of days past, but that is my first memory of Jimmy, and its a good one. Is it perfect? Nope. But that day would not be a day I would want to remember if it weren't for Uncle Jimmy. He shows up a few more times in my minds eye- but none of them as vivid as the first. I believe the last time I saw him was at Cindys house, he pulled up in a big rig, talked for a little while but didn't stay long. He was amazed at how tall I had grown, and was just as kind to me that day as he had been every time I had seen him. I never saw him in a negative way, and on some level I think I felt a black-sheep kinship with him. (especially in my late teen years!) Sadly there isn't many men from my early childhood that I can remember fondly- to be specific- there was only four. Ronnie- My Uncle A, My Uncle Ron, & Uncle Jimmy. These men were more imperative to my future than they could have ever known. If only for a flicker in my memories- they helped me always remember that not all men were going to hurt me. Circumstances being what they are, I was young when I knew Uncle Jimmy, young when I knew & lost Uncle Ron, and only 19 when we lost Ronnie. Maybe thats really sad in some ways, but how grateful I am that they are all there in my memories!
I am glad Uncle Jimmy knew love, which is evident in the stories I have heard of him & his wife. I am glad that in his final days he was surrounded by people who cared. I wish our lives had all been different, I wish I could have known him well and I wish we had been afforded more memories. Life takes us in the directions that don't always get us to the wishful places. Sometimes it takes all a person has to survive a childhood, to make the best of what they have to work with. Imperfect as we can be- To just find love, make a life, and have those memories to revisit, its a blessing. To this day, when I find myself having an awful day, I get in my car and just take a ride. The kids and I do it all the time. Its me making cow jokes, watching my kids laugh until their sides hurt. I didn't realize my tendency to do this on a bad day until I sat down to write this. It kinda makes me think that Uncle Jimmy taught me that even during a hard time in life, never underestimate the impact a short joy ride filled with laughter can have. How even the worst day might have something in it that you want to remember and cherish. Im so happy that he gave me that memory!