I think of Jim quite often.   Usually every week or two something pops into my mind that relates to him.  It's hard to believe 3 years have passed by.  Even now, I feel an emptiness without Jim.

Been 3 years now. Thnk of Jim often and all the good times I shared with him. Took a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon last September and was in areas where Jim and I were in years ago.  Miss him and will never forget how great a companion and friend I had.

Like so many, Jim was the reason for my love of hiking and national parks, specifically the Grand Canyon.  I'd known Jim from work at E-Systems since around 1985, but it wasn't until around '88 that he started encouraging (harassing?) me to join him and his Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim crowd.  I finally agreed to go with him in the fall of '96 and my life would never be the same.  Jim definitely took a rather "hands-off " approach on that first hike and many mistakes were made.  In later years when I would rib Jim about all the things that went wrong, he'd flash that big grin and say "But look at all the things you learned NOT to do!"  I can smile now, but back then...well, not so much.  I made many other trips with him to the canyon and wish that I'd been brave enough to take him up on his offer to go backpacking.  My favorite trip turned out to be the last chance I had to hike with Jim.  He and I hiked Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon in the fall of 2012.  The best part of that trip was actually the drive from Vegas to and from the Canyon.  As others have noted about talking with Jim, our conversations spanned a broad gamut, and we both developed a deeper bond and appreciation for the life choices that had brought us to where we were.  I cannot express the depth of my sorrow at his passing and hope the fond memories of him provide some comfort to all of his family and friends.  I know that he's just around the bend of the trail and will be waiting to greet me at life's final trailhead.

(Photo from summer 2008 Rim-to-Rim: Redwall Bridge heading up the North Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon N.P.)

So, where do I begin?    We are all so much better off  for having had Jim in our lives.  There are so many things to say about my dear sweet friend and buddy....as I read over the other memoirs I can remember Jim reminiscing about all of the moments that you shared.  Like most of you,  Jim and I would talk and talk about everything..... and nothing.  Jim was an inspiration to me in so many ways.  Who else knows more about Math and  talks about it with such passion?   He lived much of  life with passion....math, hiking, running, keeping in touch with people that were important to him,  stock trading, visiting his girls and grandchildren, traveling,   I can go on and on.  My mind is racing with thoughts of many things to say but I  will stop here.  There is a large empty hole in my heart and always will be.  Jim,  I miss you and am so sad that I will never get to be with you again.  Thank you for being such a big and special part of my life.  I love you and thank you ..  Until we meet again.... 

Jim was a great guy, ran with him many times at  Plano Pacer's runs. He will be missed

I’m so very sorry to hear of Jimmy’s passing... Knew both Jimmy and Johnny from our younger years in Oak Cliff..... Jimmy was one of the good guys...
May he Rest In Peace...
Praying for his family and especially, Debbie..♥️
Lana Lanning...

Jim was my lunch buddy. In the past 10 years, Jim and I would get together every Monday at WhatABurger.  We discussed many topics: math, teaching, politics, religion, finances, children, and grand children, to mention a few.   

Jim and I go way back. He was a math major at UT Arlington.  I probably passed Jim in the hallway many times. He might have helped me in the math lab, since he was a few math courses ahead of me.  I began to really get to know Jim when I became a Math Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Fall of 1975.  Jim was also a GTA.  

In December 1975, between Christmas and New Year's, Jim and I took our first back packing trip to the Grand Canyon.   It was so cold that we stopped along the way and bought an oil based space heater.   That first night on the South Rim, we foolishly used the space heater in my 1974 Gremlin, with the back latch partially open and with the windows rolled down a little.  On our hike down the Kaibab Trail the next day, we took a kerosene lantern, a hatchet to hammer in the tent stakes, and many other items that we really didn't need.  We both got toe blisters so bad that we had to stay an extra day at the Bright Angel, Colorado River,  camp site .  For New Years Eve, we were in Las Vegas and enjoyed the lights and sights. On future trips we would laugh at how unprepared we were on that very first back packing trip.

As the years passed, Jim Hallmark, Danny Cook, Russell Seal, my brother Louis, and I, hiked Rocky Mountain and Sierra trails out west and accumulated many memories. I will say that Jim was the motivator for me, and likely for all of us, to hike and travel.   Jim kept a trip list and in 1995, 20 years after our first, Jim listed 55 trips, more than two per year.  As the years passed, Jim would encourage others to join our group of hikers.  Jim will be missed by all who were fortunate to travel with him. 

1989 photo Santa Fe: Danny Tomanek, Jim Hallmark, Danny Cook, & Russell Seal.

Jim, I miss you. 

Jim Hallmark was a good friend who I first met in 1977 while I was an undergraduate at UT Arlington. Danny Cook, Jim and I lived in the same apartment complex. They were in grad school. He asked if I wanted to join them for a road trip to the Sierra's and grand canyon. Four of us took his 2 seater Ford ranger across the country rotating from the truck bed to cab. Crossing Death Valley in July in an open bed truck was brutal. We backpacked 60 plus miIes up Mt. Whitney then a few days later on to the Grand Canyon, backpacking down the Kaibab  to Fathom ranch at the river then up the bright Angel. Over 100 miles in a little over a week. Thank you, Jim,  for a lifetime of memories.




Jimmy, to my  first and everlasting love.  We just spoke on the phone a couple weeks ago about our families and being safe. My heart is breaking upon hearing that you have crossed over.  I will always treasure our memories of growing up and growing old together. I will truly miss our phone conversations. I always loved talking to you.  My deepest sympathy to your family.  Til we meet again my forever love,  Rest in Peace.  God Bless.


My heart is heavy to learn of Jimmy's death.  He dated my daughter, Debbie Kepley, when they were in high school.  They got back in touch in later years and have been in frequent contact.  Debbie just talked with him a week before his death and she is inconsolable.  I saw Jim a couple of years ago when he came to visit me while  I was at a Plano Rehab facility.  He still looked the same as he did years before.  He told me that Debbie was his first love and that she would always have a special place in his heart.  He will be always be in our hearts and memories.

A good friend died this week.  I knew him for over thirty years and Russell knew him since college.  Jim was brilliant.  He had a Ph.D. in Math and taught at numerous universities while working at Raytheon.  Don't ask me what he did there.  He couldn't tell us. That was a side of him I didn't know.  
I knew Jim as a fellow adventurer. We climbed mountains together, hiked national parks, backpacked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon--once when I was pregnant, and we, inadvertantly, ran people out of restaurants when our gang showed up, dirty and smelly after a few days on a trail.  I remember one trip to the Grand Canyon.  I wanted to carry a backpack tent (or rather, I wanted Russell to carry it).  Jim gave me a really hard time but Russell carried it anyway.  That first night it poured. And it poured.  Before long. Jim was in the tent with Russell and me, soaking wet, looking like a wet puppy.  And I enjoyed the laugh.  On a different trip, we went to the north rim of the canyon.  We planned to hike Lava Falls--a particularly dangerous path composed of sliding rocks that fell toward the Colorado River.  Jim was in front of the group.  All of a sudden, Danny yelled for Jim to move.  Jim looked up as a huge rock flew in his direction.  Jim jumped out of the way as the rock barely missed  his head and blew up a barrel cactus instead.  Jim got lucky.  
Jim tackled most of the peaks in the west and did the Pikes Peak marathon many times. We hiked miles in Big Bend and the Guadalupe Mountains Nat'l Parks testing our endurance against Mother Nature who seemed intent upon killing us.  Jim, who I diagnosed, lacking any credentials, with ADHD, would wake us by shaking our tent at the crack of dawn to get us on the trail. 
Jim looked like he belonged in the natural environment.  He was skinny with a scruffy beard and lines on his face drawn there by years of weathering in the wilderness.   We will miss you. Russell and Karen Seal

Jim was one of my best friends for going on 50 years.  Along with Danny, Louis and others we traveled around the country, backpacking and hiking in the Grand Canyon, hiking in the mountains of California and Colorado and rafting the rivers in Big Bend.  Jim loved the outdoors and spent a month or so every year in Breckenridge CO training for the Pike's Peak half and full marathon.
He was generous in inviting others to join him in Breckenridge while he trained and I went every year.  Jim was a special friend. He was kind, honest and totally dependable.  He loved his daughters,
grandchildren and all of his family.  His passing leaves a huge hole in many or our lives. 

Friendships are all about memories and I've had many great ones with Jim.   Jim was always ready for an adventure,  and "the more friends together, the merrier".  As part of a backpacking group of guys,  I've always considered Jim to be the leader of the group. 

There were so many trips as a group  that were fantastic with Jim being there  but I'll tell one that Jim and I took together. 

Jim and I drove down to Mexico City for Christmas,  I think 1977.  We spent a few days looking around then Jim says "let's go to Las Vegas".  So there we went on a two and a half day drive to get to Vegas.   He and I were the ones who liked the bright lights. 

Yes,  what an adventure!!!  Jim,  you will be deeply missed. 



OBITUARY

James Carl Hallmark

December 26, 1951 – February 3, 2021

Ted Dickey Funeral Home

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