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Jimmy was my assistant Evan's best friend and writing partner. He also coached little league
with us and if you knew him at all, you'd know that this world is a lesser place in his absence.
Perhaps there's no greater sadness than seeing a bright light extinguished before it's shone
for the rest of us and it's that heightened sense of loss that most plagues us: The notion that
someone so young, never really got the chance...so every one of us who knew Jimmy and those that
loved him, have the responsibility of carrying on the promise of who he was and what he might have become...
..It's how he will continue to live on.
I cried when I heard Jimmy had been killed and I thought of myself at 24: The whole world was
still sitting there in front of me. Take a moment today and look around at things both vast
and trivial and remind yourself how lucky you are to be sitting there...because you never know when
it will be taken away from you. Jimmy's beautifully rendered obit is below. It does a far greater service to his memory than I ever could. I've reprinted it in its entirety. And out of respect for Jimmy, I won't be making any further blog entries for the rest of the month. I want his likeness to be the first thing people see:
GAUNTT, JAMES TEDROW Nov. 8, 1983 to August 9, 2008 James Tedrow Gaunt, 24. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, "For awhile after you read John Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming." The same can be said for a person having the privilege of being in the presence of James "Jimmy" Tedrow Gauntt. No one else was as bright, as talented, as kind, as genuine, or as loving. Jimmy was music, the rest of us mere explanation of its sound. But rarer still, and perhaps even more remarkable, was what Jimmy achieved in his 24 short years here on earth. Jimmy grew up in Solana Beach and graduated Torrey Pines High School in 2002 with a 4.65 GPA. He was senior class president, played four years of football, three years of track & field, and was voted by his peers to be both Homecoming Prince and recipient of the "Nicest Guy" award. He was an AP scholar, a Boys State finalist, National Honors Society member, recipient of the Dartmouth Book Award, the Golden Falcon Award, and the prestigious Trustee Scholarship to the University of Southern California. Jimmy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from USC in 2006, spending a summer studying in Madrid and his senior year in London at Queens College. He was a member of the SAE Fraternity. While fluent in Spanish, his minor at USC, Jimmy majored in English Literature. He was a prolific reader. Inspired by Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, among countless others, Jimmy's ineffable talent as a writer was only outmatched by his intense desire to create. Upon the very day of his tragic death where he was accidentally struck by a motorist while a pedestrian, Jimmy had just completed his fourth screenplay titled, "Now's the Time." As well as screenplays, Jimmy had a passion for the theatre, both as an actor and in penning three plays, two of which were produced and staged. For the play he wrote, that was performed by members of the USC theatre department, Jimmy saw fit that a tenor saxophone play in the orchestra to represent the unconscious of its central character, as Jimmy had more than eight years of saxophone training and experience himself. Despite all of his ability and genius, despite all of his accomplishments and kindness, Jimmy remained an angel because of his laughter, able to fly simply because he took himself so lightly. Jimmy was hilarious. But he listened. He listened with his whole heart. Every friend, acquaintance and family member understood no greater truth than this: Jimmy cared so much, so sincerely. Forever beaming with the greatest smile, forever full of joy, forever ready to help others find and hold fast to happiness, forever young. Jimmy Gauntt was an artist. He will be missed by those who love him in ways forever unsayable. He is survived by his parents Casey and Hilary Gauntt, his sister Brittany Gauntt Kirby and brother-in-law Ryan Kirby, his grandmother Barbara Case Gauntt, grandparents James and Virginia Tedrow, aunts Laura Gauntt Butie, Ainsley Nies and Leslie Tedrow, and his uncle Grover Gauntt III and their families. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations may be made to Torrey Pines High School's TPHS Foundation in Memory of James Tedrow Gauntt at P.O. Box 2489 Del Mar, CA 92014-1789. The purpose of which is to establish the "James Tedrow Gauntt Scholarship Fund." A Memorial Service and Celebration of Jimmy's enriched life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August 15th, at the Mandeville Auditorium on the campus of UCSD, La Jolla, CA.
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