This portion of the website is dedicated to stories or personal experiences you wish to dedicate to Jim Tambling. Our father had an impact on many peoples' lives and we would appreciate anything you wish to share with us. Scroll to the bottom of this page to submit your story or experience.

Dad saved my life! Mom, Dad and all five boys were around the dinner table, when I began choking on a piece of steak. During this time my brother Rodney, sitting directly beside me, was laughing at me while at the same time smacking me on the back. Mom, being a recently trained nurse began yelling, " do the Heimlich maneuver, do the Heimlich maneuver!!!". Dad, in a very calm and confident fashion, moved toward me and reached down to the floor. He grabbed me by my ankles, turned me upside down like a ketchup bottle and snapped my whole body like I was a wet towel. This, of course, immediately dislodged the meat stuck in my throat! I guess Dad never met Heimlich.
- Randy Tambling

While attending high school, I was often tormented by the class bully, as was most of the other boys in the class. One day when the teacher stepped out of the room, the bully dumped me and my desk over. As the other students laughed and pointed at me while I struggled to get up, a little spark of rage grew in the back of my mind. The next thing I knew I was standing over the bully, hitting him in the face, over and over again. Well, it got me suspended from school for five days, but even worse was the fear about what would happen to me when my father found out. And a strange thing happened. Rather than become angry, he smiled proudly and said "Good! good for you, that boy had it coming!" That was a good lesson for me, and the bully never once picked on me again. I believe my Father lived his life that way. He stood up for himself and taught us, sometimes you just have to make a stand.
- Rodney Tambling

Once during my first marriage, I was extremely upset (abused is more accurate) and I sought out Rodney at the house on Calvin in Fort Myers to talk sanity to me. He wasn't home, it was early morning, and Jim decided I needed breakfast. This is what he put in front of me: an omelette, french toast, regular toast, and sausages in a number that might feed a family of four. He read the paper across the table to me, hitting on this article or that, and I just tried to get through even some of the food! I had to have looked like I felt that morning, but Jim never said anything to me to embarrass me. He just tried to solve my problems with FOOD. I will always remember that breakfast, and the fact that all the boys had his sense of.... SENSE. They don't make men like Jim any more..... but he left behind five cool reminders! I also remember when he opened their front door on Entrada, which had been locked and deadbolted, he just pushed a little harder than usual? Maybe he thought the door was stuck!
- Laurie (Blase) Scanlan

When I moved up to Gainesville two years ago to attend graduate school, Jim was kind enough to let me stay at his place for a few months. I had been laid off from my job a few months earlier than expected, and I was somewhat destitute in the intervening months before school started. Jim was in the VA hospital when I first moved up there, recovering from surgery. Jim allowed me to stay at his place until Brett, my future roommate at the time and best friend since high school, and I could find an apartment. When Jim was released from the hospital in late June, I was surprised by his physical changes since I had seen him 8 years earlier in Ft. Myers. He was having to use a wheelchair while he recuperated from his surgery. However, what hadn't changed was THE VOICE! "GODDAMMIT, DAVE, EAT SOME OF THIS SOUP! IT'S GOOD FOR YOU." (And he was still the excellent [and copious] cook as 8 years ago.) I recall Jim showing me how to check my blood sugar: "GODDAMMIT, DAVE. YOU'RE NOT SQUEEZING ENOUGH BLOOD OUT OF YOUR FINGER." Or criticizing my vacuuming skills: "GODDAMMIT, DAVE. YOU NEED TO VACUUM THE SAME PATCH OF CARPET OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN." I must admit, I was somewhat terrified of him. But I must say that I will always be in his debt for taking me in. And I will always respect him for taking great care of his sons and raising them to be respectable men. A model father cares for his offspring for life, and that's just what Jim did. (I was especially impressed with how he helped Kent and Brett start up and maintain their ISP business.)
- David Bryant

Jim... Where to begin... It was hard enough when Brett asked me to do the website for him, but I couldn't say no. It's taken me close to a year to express myself on the matter. I remember the first time I met him, I had been working with Brett and Kent for a couple of months already. He came driving his scooter... He was straight forward. No BS. To many, it would seem intimidating... He was a great man. To me he was the grandfather who I never got to share time with... Him acting like he was mad because I opened the door for him. Him asking me to fix his bumper, of course it happened cause he took the corners so damn fast around the office at times... He always acted tough and he was, but he had a kind heart deep down inside. "God damn it!!!! KENT!!!!! / BRETT!!!!!" I always appreciated him considering me when he brought food in to the office. I remembered the first Thanksgiving dinner that I shared with him and his entire family... "EAT MORE!!!!" The best part of it was when I was already about to burst, he knew it too, yet he sets dessert and parks in front of me in the living room. He waited until I finished the whole thing... Man, that was rough. I will always remember his Chicken a la king. I was glad to be there when he needed something. He always told me that Brett and Kent didn't want him to bug me as much. Hehe... I never cared. I only had two years two build memories of Jim. I could imagine the stories that others posess... It was funny seeing him riding his scooter on the street itself... "Hey Jim... Be careful..." Jim would say, "Grrrr, Ah the cars will move away!!" He did what he desired to do. He had a great heart. I believe that he left a little bit of himself in everyone he came in contact with. The hardest thing for me to deal with was him bringing me a tupperware container with spaghetti for me the last day I saw him... He was about to enter his office in his scooter. I was standing in the door to my office. He asked me if I understood him... I said, "Yes... I do" I can't forget that day. He wanted me to understand him... I always did. I knew he was kind. I never felt otherwize. The visits to the VA, the talks we had, everything is quite vivid. His guayaberas... LOL
There's a lot we hold inside... He is in a better place. He knows he was loved...
- R. Fuentes