JIM RITCHIE
If you're looking for a downhome commentary that features the natural talents of a master storyteller who has a knack for honing in on the eccentricities of human nature, look no further. Whether in print or on CD, Jim Ritchie's tales reflect the humor and ironies that enrich the fabric of life.
"Telling stories and listening to them has always been one of my favorite pastimes," says the Brookhaven, Mississippi native. "In those pre-TV days, I can remember my dad and uncles telling stories for hours. I didn't miss a word, and there was a lot of laughter in the house when that bunch got together."
It seems that as soon as he could put his own two sentences together, Jim followed in their footsteps. "Even though I was the slowest person in the history of the Natchez High School track team, I still managed to get elected President of the student body," he recalls. "I don't remember ever being nervous when getting up in front of the assembly and scattering stories in between the announcements. The principal and teachers used to get pretty edgy at those meetings because they never knew what I was going to say. Whatever, the outcome was always the same: the kids enjoyed it.
Jim met his wife of 54 years, Perry, at a fraternity party at the University of Mississippi in 1959. "Perry was actually someone else's date, and I knew she was dating a bigshot football player, too...but I still made my move and eventually convinced that gal to marry me. Best move I ever made,‘cause I married way above my station," he says.
After graduating from Ole Miss in 1960 and receiving his commission, Jim headed into the U.S. Army for a 2-year stint. Between his artillery training and Perry's schoolteaching duties, they found time to start a family (they have two children, 11 grandchildren). "It didn't take long to see that I wasn't going to get rich in the military, and following the rules expected of an 'officer and gentleman' was getting a little constrictive for a country boy, so out into the business world I ventured."
Jim traded in one uniform and set of rules for another (this time, the dark suit, striped tie and dictums of corporate America) when he joined IBM in 1963. "Those days I sold computers when most people didn't even know what computers were."
After 15 years with Big Blue, Jim launched his own computer consulting business, Jackson, Mississippi based Computer Results Company in 1978. Still telling tall tales at every opportunity, it wasn't until 1989 when the first went down on paper.
"He used to wake me in the morning by telling me stories," says Perry, "and I never knew if he was telling the truth or not." She continues, "Then after a particularly hard-to-believe funny tale he told while we were going someplace in the car, I finally just looked at him and said 'You really need to write this stuff down.'"
"So I did the only thing a hairy-chested, testosterone-filled, macho husband could do," explains Jim. "I said 'Yes ma'am,' got me a yellow pad, licked the point of a pencil, and had at it." His easygoing, conversational writing style doesn't require a host of dictionaries and thesauruses. "I found that writing 'em came as natural to me as telling 'em."
Jim's first book, Shocco Tales: Southern Fried Sagas, was published in 1991, containing 16 stories filled with enough gutbusting humor, unbelievable claims of truth and Southern nostalgia to make readers nationwide want more. So he published another book, Shocco Tales: Shavin’s Under A Southern Shade Tree, in 2008 (he says, “I average writing a book every 17 years”), containing 26 stories, “some true true, some sort of true, and some questionable”. Perry, an award winning artist, illustrated both books with her incredible pen and ink drawings.
"I never really planned on all that has resulted since the first book was published," says Jim. Today, after retiring from his software company, his busy schedule includes a full calendar of speaking engagements, book signings, a regular radio program, and his new venture, SouthernStories.com, which promotes and celebrates southern writers and artists.
"I don't know where this will all lead," ponders Jim. "But if my stories bring joy to people, I'm going to continue do them until I run out of them. And I don't expect that to happen until they plant me. Even then, maybe at the funeral ceremony, having a captive crowd and all, they may see me sit up in the coffin one last time, look around at my friends and say, 'Did I ever tell y'all about the time...?'"
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