Jim Daly, my beloved husband and partner in the work of Mossy Foot Project, went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Wednesday, Jan 13. Jim suffered a severe stroke several weeks previously and never recovered.
This post is a celebration of his life and provides some background on how we came to work together on the Mossy Foot Project.
Jim Daly was born to Kenneth and Anna Daly in Napa, California on July 10, 1930. Jim grew up in Clear Lake, California and attended high school in Napa where he graduated at the age of sixteen. In high school, Jim was an accomplished athlete, earning all-star status in baseball, basketball, and football.
In 1947 at the age of seventeen, Jim joined the Navy. His first assignment was to help evacuate the US Embassy in Shanghai. For most of his twenty-year Navy career, Jim was a photographer both on the ground and in high-altitude reconnaissance, even flying surveillance missions over China. Jim’ss navy career took him to Hawaii, Korea, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Japan. Jim participated in the all-Navy rifle team where he set national records and instructed others in firearms.
Upon retiring from the Navy in 1967, Jim worked as a civilian scientific and technical photographer first at Point Mugu and then at the Naval Civil Engineering Lab (NCEL) in Port Hueneme. When he retired from civil service, Jim was the division director of photography at NCEL.
After his second retirement, Jim started a garage door business, but had to abandon the business when he became ill with liver disease. On February 21, 1995, Jim’s liver completely failed. He received a liver transplant that night, which gave him a new lease on life. In this final season of his life, Jim got great joy out of volunteering and helping others.
Over the years, we traveled to Mexico, Canada, Kenya, and Israel. In 2001, I introduced Jim to Ethiopia, where I grew up with my missionary parents. Jim fell in love with Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people.
In 200, Jim and I returned to Ethiopia where Jim was introduced to the Mossy Foot Project, started by my father, Dr. Nathan Barlow, in 1997. When my dad died in 2004 at the age of 91, everyone thought that the Mossy Foot Project would come to an end. But Jim got out the doctor’s correspondence and wrote to each donor telling them that the Mossy Foot Project would continue.
This was the beginning of Jim’s involvement and passion for helping those afflicted with mossy foot disease, which continued to grow in the following years. He served as Mossy Foot Project president for a number of years and made frequent trips to Ethiopia.
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- Jim received great joy from spending time with children in Ethiopia.
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- As a trained photographer, Jim always had his camera ready.
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- Jim’s gentleness always calmed the children.
On a visit to Ethiopia three years ago, Jim contracted malaria and was no longer able to visit Ethiopia and the people he had come to love and who had come to love and respect him. But he still supported the organization every way he could, giving presentations to churches, schools, and civic organizations about mossy foot disease and its terrible consequences for the lives of those afflicted.
Jim remained active until his stroke before Christmas. The previous September, we spent two weeks together visiting churches and organizations in Switzerland where Jim was able to visit the town of Wassen where his grandmother came from.
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- Jim in Switzerland
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- Jim giving a presentation at a school
Jim had a keen mind and was an avid reader who especially loved to read about history, guns, and Sherlock Holmes. Jim’s strong faith in Jesus Christ was an important part of his life. Jim was a loving husband and father and a loyal friend who was well loved. He was a compassionate, generous, and kind man who was always ready to help others. Jim will be deeply missed.
Please pray for me and for the Mossy Foot Project organization as we move through this season of change. You keep Jim’s vision alive by donating in his honor to help the people he loved.