James Edward Humm

James Edward Humm, age 83, passed away on August 21, 2024. He was born on May 7, 1941, to Jesse Ray and Nellie Irene (Thayer) Humm, the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters. He grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, and almost as soon as he had a bike got a job delivering the Beacon Journal. He enjoyed that job despite all the pedaling and sometimes bad weather, except when it was time to collect the payments from his customers. Little Jimmy delivered papers for many years, and saved enough to buy his share of comic books and his first car. He graduated from Cuyahoga Falls High School in 1959.

Jim started work in the mailroom at General Tire in Akron shortly after graduation at the suggestion of his oldest sister, Pauline. Through his reliability and strong work ethic, and his early interest and knowledge of electronics (his father was an electrician and lineman) that grew into a curiosity about these new computing machines—he was soon helping to build the new computer, data, and networking systems at General Tire. He got in at the beginning of this wave of the future, and was always very proud to have been a part of its evolution. 

In May 1966, Jim was drafted into the Army to serve in Vietnam, and so left home for basic training in Georgia. He served in the 365th Transportation Company, supporting the Phan Rang air base. Jim drove and maintained the trucks known as “deuce-and-a-halfs” for the amount of tonnage they could carry on or off-road. He was lucky, and his unit only took fire a few times on their transports. Though once he had to change a tire under fire, which he did—very quickly—because he was the lead truck and those trucks, for all their fine qualities, did not get very far on the often rustic roads on their rims. 

Many of his Army stories revolved around the random mischief that he and his company members created to pass the time. Jim was literally the oldest an enlisted troop could possibly be when he was drafted and was already bald on top. Both of these situations seemed less than ideal at the start. However, he discovered the upside while in the military hospital recovering from strep throat. No ranks were worn on hospital robes, so this, combined with his bald head, got Jim mistaken for an officer. So he boldly and thoroughly enjoyed eating the better food reserved for the officers in the hospital and later back in the officer’s mess at the barracks, where he found creative ways to hide his rank while wearing his uniform. Jim’s favorite parts of his tour in Vietnam were his R&R’s in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Hawaii. He was always very proud of his own service, and of the World War II service of his sister Pauline, in the Women’s Army Corps, and of his brother, Harold, who was killed in action over Germany, serving as a ball turret gunner on B-17’s, the “Flying Fortress”; as is his family. 

Back home in the Falls and at General Tire, Jim loved his work and his colleagues who kept things crazy in the best way with their jokes, pranks, and general wackiness. His department particularly liked the fact that most other people at the company, including their bosses, were intimidated by these giant machines, and so they enjoyed some amount of freedom from micro-management. They sometimes resorted to completely made-up words to “explain” why there was some problem or other, and the bosses would nod and move along (the desired effect). But the group always figured out how to fix the bugs, even when it was sometimes the very first time an issue had come up anywhere—among any of the few area companies using these computers with their data stored on punch-cards, and later magnetic tape—at the time. 

Speaking of colleagues he loved—he met his wife there, Sharon Gleason, who worked in the billing department. The story goes that a group from work was out one night at Michael’s Bar on Massillon Road and Shari started to slip off a barstool, and Jim was there to catch her. He asked her out to dinner that night, which happened to be her birthday. They were married on September 30, 1972, with Shari looking very beautiful with a delicate wreath of flowers in her hair, and Jim looking very Vegas in a fuzzy-like-a-teddy-bear dark brown velvet tuxedo with a ruffled warm-peach-colored shirt (to match the bridesmaid’s dresses, the only stated requirement). Why Jim was given the freedom to choose his and his groomsmen’s outfits remains unclear, but it made for quite the sight, and always sparks colorful commentary. By October 1977, they had three children under three years old, Sarah, Wendy, and Brian; and in 1979 the family moved to Stow.

Jim enjoyed taking road trips with his family, the longest of all was a three-week trip in 1988 to and around Florida and back to visit Disney World and his sister Harriet and her family, among many other tourist sights and parks. The time spent on or at the edge of the bayou at his niece’s house in the panhandle was a family favorite, and a place they returned to many times over the years. Jim was an early adopter of video recording, and so was often seen filming on family trips, and in the earlier days, lugging around not only the big camera on his shoulder, but the external tape unit and extra battery in a cross-shoulder bag, at least it sort of balanced out. No one was happier than he when lighter, self-contained camcorders arrived. Later, he took the time to transfer the many, many hours of family videos from VHS to compact discs, neatly copying and cataloging them for each of his children, who are forever grateful. 

While working, he went back to school and earned a degree in network systems administration from DeVry Institute of Technology, attending classes nights and weekends. After General Tire was bought, he “retired” from there in 1995, and then worked at ACS, and later Roadway. After true retirement he decided to build a website to capture some of the photos and memories of his unit in Vietnam, with the goal of trying to reunite some of the members. He very happily did reconnect with some of his friends there, and enjoyed catching up on the phone and email and swapping photos. 

A billion moments make up every person’s life. It’s hard to imagine that there will be no new ones, except that there will be—when his friends and family recall some of the best, and even the not-so-best, times with Jim from the many wonderful years he was here. These are just a few more of Jim’s favorite things, and his family’s memories, that will live on… 

Jim loved to bowl, and at one time, was on three league teams concurrently and nearly missed the birth of Wendy because of it. Jim and Shari hosted many poker nights at their home for co-workers and friends, and their kids loved sneaking down and hiding on the stairs to eavesdrop on such a grown-up situation. He and a group of friends spent a week fishing in Canada every summer for over 10 years, a tradition that involved just as much, or more, Budweiser as fish. 

Jim preferred his sleeves short and his fingernails shorter, two quirks he passed to Sarah. He had the best one-liners, and would always say they were oldies—but they were expertly delivered and new to his kids, and later his grandkids. No one could make him laugh like Wendy when she made up random catchy songs, especially on road trips; or Brian, with his quick, driest of dry, one-line, deadpan observations about whatever was being discussed. Well, his zany sisters who he spent the most time with, Corkie and June, could make him laugh; more accurately, they all made each other laugh till tears. Many of the biggest revolved around some misunderstanding of normal concepts that Corky especially would have, and the hilarious images that Jim would use his Photoshop skills to illustrate. 

Building electronics that most people would just buy was a hobby. He built a television from a thousand parts—wires, circuit boards (that also had to be built and tested first), and vacuum tubes. Jim and his father-in-law, Ed, built and finely finished the cabinet that housed the giant television. One of his favorite singers was Barbra Streisand, and one of her movies, What’s Up, Doc?, was the first non-children’s movie that he shared with his kids. They were enthralled, especially by the epic chase scene (practically half the movie), and probably watched it over 40 times growing up. It remains a very re-watchable and quotable favorite to this day. “You’re upside down.” 

One of the greatest gifts Jim and Shari gave to their kids was that the house they bought in Stow was walking distance from Maplewood Pool, which became their second home all summer long. Mom/Shari/Mrs. Humm and their kids, and the other children that Shari took care of as a professional babysitter would spend their afternoons there, and on the very best days, Dad/Jim/Mr. Humm would meet them there after work with a pizza from Pony Express for dinner. Jim served on the volunteer board of the pool for nine years, and managed the maintenance aspects of the pool, including the temperamental plumbing and filtration systems. He also gave exciting “dolphin rides” to his kids in the pool, and also had fun flinging them through the air to a splashy landing. 

From the fishing trips to Canada, to the days at the pool, and the vacations on the bayou, being on, or in, or just staring at the water was a good place for Jim to be. The water is a wonderful way to think about him now, as related in the finale of The Good Place series: Picture a wave in the ocean. You can see it, measure it—its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. It’s there and you can see it and you know what it is. It’s a wave. And then it crashes on the shore, and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while… The wave returns to the ocean—where it came from, and where it’s supposed to be."

Jim was preceded in death by his parents; his sisters and their spouses, Pauline Parmelee Kline (Richard), Harriet Curry (Sam), Aldine “Deanie” Evans (Walter), Alice “Corky” Giles (Herman “Ozzie”), and June Humm; and his brothers, Irvin, Bernard, Raymond, Earl, Carroll, Glen, and Harold. 

Left to carry Jim/Dad/Papa and his love, laughter, and funny stories in their minds and hearts are his loving and caring wife of nearly 52 years, Sharon (Gleason) Humm; his children, Sarah Humm (Hans Walter), Wendy Allport (Thom), and Brian Humm (Stacie); and his grandchildren, Elliot Pegenau, Matthew Allport, Theodore Walter, Alayna Allport, and Samuel Humm. He also leaves many nieces and nephews of the regular, great, and great-great varieties. 

Join Jim’s family in celebrating his life during calling hours on Saturday, September 14, from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. at Clifford-Shoemaker Funeral Home in Cuyahoga Falls. 

For those who wish to make a memorial gift, his family suggests the Phyllis Zumkehr County Clothing Center (PZCCC), 3377 St. Route 59, Ravenna, 44266; the American Legion Charles Faust Post 281, 1601 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, 44221; or the cause of your choice.