Aka "Diamond Merchant of the Midsouth" "The Godfather" "Seller of Used and Abused Automobiles"
Jim (Jimmy Rogers) Livingston was as good a friend as I could have ever wanted. We met between my sophomore and junior years in high school when I moved just a block from Jim’s house in Corinth, Mississippi. Jim was untypical in many ways but never for a loss of words and great fun to be around.
Jim’s father loved a good drink and occasionally loved more than one. My earliest recollection of Jim was an early morning phone call where he asked me if I could drive to school that day and pick him up. This was unusual as I knew that Jim always drove a new car, mostly a Cadillac.
When I arrived at his house that morning I saw that his porch had collapsed and blocked his garage and car. I asked Jim what had happened and he said his dad decided he was too drunk to walk up his front steps the night before so he tried to drive up them resulting in knocking the roof supports out.
Another time he was a couple of hours late for school one morning and our teacher asked where he had been. Jim’s answer was "Down at the Police Station". He explained why, like this: "The police woke me up early this morning claiming I had a stolen car parked in my front yard. I looked out the door and there was an old car parked next to our big oak tree, the motor running, and a rope tied to the bumper and to a tree limb.
I woke my Dad up and asked him whose car he had driven home last night". He answered: "I didn’t drive a car home son, I rode a horse".
Jim’s escapades were too numerous to show them all but the following are a few of his most notorious ones.
Free Samples
In 1957, a new manufacturer "Kellogg Switchboard and Supply" opened a factory in Corinth to make telephones. Jim and I both went to work for them. I was an assembly repairman and Jim worked in shipping and receiving. Of course the sign out front simply said "Kellogg".
One day an elderly man walked by and saw Jim in the door. He asked what we did there and Jim’s answer was that we were Kelloggs and made corn flakes. He told him that in fact we boxed all we could but at closing time, any that was made and left over would be either destroyed or given away. He told the man if he would come back at 3:30 with a box we would fill it with left over corn flakes.
At about 3:15, Jim looked out the door and there must have been 50-75 men standing in the parking area with boxes, waiting on the free corn flakes. Needless to say Jim sneaked out another door and his boss was left to deal with the men.
Candidate for Election
One year in the late 60's there were city, county and state electioneering going on. Jim said that everyone but him was running for office and passing out cards so he had some made for himself (shown below). He dressed up like a hippie and called himself "The Unqualified Candidate" and stated that he was "Insincere, Dishonest, Unqualified and Irresponsible".
His slogan was "The Candidate that will do it, and do it again if it feels good."
Belly Button Cover Jim wore a huge diamond
Jim has a big hand and big fingers so his diamond ring was huge (I think around 20 one carat stones.) He loved to tell anyone that would listen (especially females) where the ring came from.
His story: Several years ago I was preacher at a small church in New Orleans. One day a man ran into my study and said there was a woman out front apparently dying and asking for a priest. I ran out and, sure enough, there was a lady of the night lying on the sidewalk. She asked if I was a priest and I told her "no but I am a preacher". She asked me to administer last rites to her and I did.
She reached into her handbag and pulled this diamond out and handed it to me. She said she was a stripper and that this was her belly button cover and she wanted me to take it and do with it whatever would benefit the church most.
I sniffed it and there was a faint body odor so I assumed she was telling the truth. I then took these diamonds, had a ring made from them for me and quit the church which I’m sure helped it more than anything else I could have done with it.
Where Have You Been
A number of years ago Jim and I both were working in the Marketing Department of ITT (which had bought Kellogg). In our duties we occasionally had to travel to visit customers for one reason or another. On this particular trip we were with a "Sales Manager" and had to meet one of our best customers the next day to introduce a new product.
We were in a top hotel in Kansas City and just had dinner in the restaurant there. We decided to walk around a little to let our dinner settle. As luck would have it, as we exited the front door, a limousine drove up and there was no doorman in sight.
Jim walked over, open the door for a well dressed man and elegantly attired lady and said to the man: "Where have you been? We have been looking all over for you. Your dog is here and he has bitten nearly everyone that works here. We finally got it up in your room and would appreciate you going up and seeing about him."
Jim then turned and walked into the hotel, leaving the man and woman standing there.
Retarded Traveling Companion
Again, Jim and I had to go to Kansas City to meet with the same customer. However, this time, we were traveling with Mr. Pounds, an older "Sales Manager". We were not able to get three seats together and Mr. Pounds insisted on sitting in the front of business class. He was given seat 3C and Jim and I went back to row 23.
No sooner had we gotten underway than Jim called the stewardess over. He told her that the man in 3C was retarded and had the mind of a six year old. Jim claimed to be his traveling companion but that he never sat with his employer, as he would sometimes throw a tantrum if Jim was around.
However, he told them that everything would be all right if they would treat Mr. Pounds as they would any six year old kid. The rest of the flight they would hug Mr. Pounds neck whenever they walked by, they pinned flight wings on his shirt and even brought him a coloring book and crayons.
Mr. Pounds refused to travel with Jim the rest of the time we worked there.
Scientific Research
On another trip, this one to San Francisco, we were traveling with a salesman named Hart. Again, there was no way we could sit together so Mr. Hart sat in the front and we sat in the back of the plane. As soon as the "Fasten Seat Belt" light went off Jim asked the stewardess how it felt to be traveling with a celebrity.
He explained that Dr. Hart (his term) had just written a book concerning his research into bodily consistencies and had been on many TV shows. He told her that one of the points in his book was the correlation between ear lobe length and the ability to grow long fingernails. It just so happened that she had short fingernails and when she pulled her hair back she had very short ear lobes.
She called another stewardess over and believe it or not her lobes were nice and long as was her fingernails. For the rest of the flight the stewardesses hardly did anything but try to look at the lobes and nails of all the women on the flight.
Trusting Soul
Please realize that we lived in a small Mississippi town with very little crime so nearly everyone was very trusting. One day Jim and I was in his office just before lunch when another employee came in and asked Jim if he could use his car to go to lunch as his was in the shop.
Jim told him sure, where the car was parked, and that the keys were in it. After he left Jim and I went to the cafeteria and had lunch and then back to his office. Shortly after, the employee came in with a brown paper sack and told Jim that he had brought his lunch in that he had left in his car.
Jim told him that wasn’t his lunch and to empty it and see what it was. What it was was $14,000 cash that Jim was planning to use to buy diamonds later in Memphis as the diamond merchant from South Africa was flying in that day.
Happy Birthday
Believe it or not we made another trip together where we had to change planes in Atlanta. That airport was laid out where you had long aisles leading to a concourse at the end with five gates around the area.
We happened to get seats next to the aisle and soon an elderly man came up pushing an old lady in a wheelchair. Of course, Jim spoke to her and she told him that the man was her son and was sixty six years old. Jim then asked her age and she told him that day was her eighty seventh birthday.
Jim immediately stood up and shouted as loud as he could "Give me Your attention everyone. This little old lady is eighty seven years old today and we are going to sing Happy Birthday to her. Her name is Ruth so lets go".
He then led about seven hundred people in singing Happy Birthday to her and it made her so happy she cried.
Best Friend And Business Associate
As I said before I don’t think I could ever have had a better friend or business associate. An example of his friendship was once when another friend of mine got arrested in Memphis and carried to jail (He as later acquitted).
However, on this night he called me at 1:00 am and told me he needed five hundred cash for bail money and asked me to bring it to him. I never kept much money and it was before ATMs so I called and woke Jim up.
I told him I needed five hundred and he told me to come to his house and get it. When I got there he handed me five one hundred dollar bills and told me to drive carefully.
As a true friend he didn’t ask why I needed it, where I was going with it or how/when/if I would repay it.
After Retirement
After retirement Jim made himself a special business card which is shown below on front and back
Nursing Home Care
After Jim retired his mother was put in a local nursing home. Every day, as long as she lived, Jim went to the nursing home at lunch and helped feed his mother.
About once a month he would gather some friends and they would set up grills in the garden of the nursing home and grill free hamburgers and hotdogs for the nursing home residents and any family members that might be visiting.
Of course he provided all the "fixings" to go along with the meat.
Every day as he was leaving the nursing home he would stop in any room where the resident was home and just ask if they needed anything. Many times they needed things such as writing paper, shampoo, etc. The next day these items showed up anonymously at the front desk with their room number on it.
Jim wanted to help all the older people but wanted no credit for it.
Just so you know the kind of person he was, Jim's last job before he got sick was as a darn good Chancery Judge in Alcorn County, Mississippi. I miss Jim every day and will until I too follow him to be with Jesus.
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