Jimmy was born June 30, 1950 in Philadelphia to Jim and Kay Rainey. He was the eldest of eight and assumed the role of “the first Child” with great zeal, much to the chagrin of his parents! This zeal meant testing the waters at every available opportunity during the late 1960’s. He had a propensity of driving fast cars and crashing those cars to where they were totaled and beyond repair. Between the ages of 16-20 his siblings lost count of how many he crashed. They were mostly Fords with the occasional Chevy. He was an independent spirit and a kind soul. He truly followed the mantra, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.”
After graduating from high school he enlisted in the US Navy and after completing basic training was assigned to a destroyer group that spent time in the South Pacific and off the coast of Vietnam. He received a general discharge and then set about a thirty plus year career in the restaurant industry.
He began his career working for chain organizations such as Steak & Ale and The Ground Round in the Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon areas. Eventually he found his way to South Florida where he became part of a private restaurant group. He knew what it meant to be successful in a challenging and tough business, hard work and long hours. He was a fixture at Turtles on Siesta Key in Sarasota from October to April every year for over 20 years. In the summer months he moved north and managed Horizons on Buzzard’s Bay in Cape Cod.
Of all his travels his favorite place to be was Costa Rica. He discovered Costa Rica long before it was a fashionable place to be. From the mid 1980’s he would make frequent trips and thoroughly enjoyed everything about the country and proclaimed after each visit that he would retire in Costa Rica. Which is exactly what he did, eventually settling on San Isidro as his place to be. His enjoyment of mountain biking was a daily occurrence and he reveled in taking frequent rides in the jungle areas around San Isidro. Everyday seemed to have a better ride than the day before.
Jimmy was a quiet fighter. After battling throat cancer in 2005-2007 he retired from his restaurant career and moved to Costa Rica full time. Upon suffering the stroke in 2018 it became apparent that he needed greater care than he was receiving and he was relocated to Houston by his sister Mary, with an assist from brother Tom, where he remained until he lost his final health challenge.
Jimmy loved life and he lived it on his terms, which was frequently on the unchartered, non-conventional path. He will be missed by all those who knew him. He was pre-deceased by his parents, James E and Kathryn B Rainey, His wife Marlena and his brother Garry. He is survived by his siblings, Greg (Kelly) of Essex CT, Andrew (Cheri) of Center Strafford NH, Thomas (Sherry) of Punta Gorda FL, Mary T Callahan ( Jay) of Houston TX, Kelly Rainey of Chesnee, SC, Kathryn Rainey of Montgomery, TX and a multitude of nieces and nephews who all will fondly remember “Uncle Jimmy.”
A celebration of Jimmy’s life will occur at a later date.
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