JT was a local legend most locals knew and appreciated.
Many of our Santa Rosa Beach friends know JT who used to live down in the Seagrove area of town. I got to spend some time with him yesterday just before his passing. Wrote these words when I got home last night as I was processing it all, waited to post them until his family was notified.
When I moved to Santa Rosa Beach just shy of a decade ago we lived in a part of town called Seagrove. It's just east of Seaside and if money were no option it's probably where I would live full time. When living there we met quite the cast of characters in that little village. People like Prudence from the song "Dear Prudence" by the Beatles, to local shop owners like Jason and Anna Lisa Daniels at Clay 30A. We met neighbors like Adams and Marcia Hudson who became dearest of friends.
There was also a guy down there named JT who we got to know as well as we could. In the midst of all these towering beach homes JT seemed to make his home along the beach. We were never really positive where he slept but we were always sure that he would be smiling and waving whenever we saw him pushing his famous cart. He for sure got the award for the tannest man in town.
When we left Seagrove we would still occasionally run into the local celebrity known by his two letters. He would always give a knowing smile and chat with the kids. My son Owen ran into him one time at the Seaside half marathon and he jumped up to the fence and started cheering on all the runners with the kids like he was a former cheerleader or something. Part of JT's legend is that he actually used to formally cheer on the Auburn Tigers, to the best of my knowledge, the second "friend of Aubie" ever at Auburn University. He also ended up doing some work with Jim Henson himself. All of this added to the mystique of JT and his ability to live mysteriously in the neighborhood without me ever hearing a negative word spoken about him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together writes this about community — "The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community." JT like all of us had complicated things from the past, but seemed to get to a place where he just began to love everybody in his path. He didn't need anything from anybody, he was seemingly so content living life on the beach and smiling at everybody that passed, and I think that was the root of the deep affection for him from so many in our little town.
Earlier this morning I got a call from Kate who is a part of our church and has been helping care for JT over the last season of his life. She started working with him in 2001 and has been a close friend since. She said he was in the hospital and not doing great and asked if I could go check on him as she was out of town.
Towards the end of my day I drove over to Sacred Heart and ran into a nurse from our church who had been caring for him ( I just love how kind and generous the people of our church all over this town) and he directed me to his room. When I went in he was fairly unresponsive and I FaceTimed his friends to talk with him. After the call I was able to pray over JT, bless him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then give him a strong War Eagle on the way out.
Not 30 minutes later I got a text while shopping for dorm supplies with my oldest daughter who is about to leave me for college. It simply said, "JT just passed."
It was an honor to be with him in those final moments.
He obviously meant a lot to our little beach town, so I wanted to post this with permission from those who were caring for him to let all of you know he is suffering no more.
There are some folks working on arrangements to give thanks for his life. I'll try to post them when they come available. I'm thankful to have already made some great friends with some of JT's small circle.
Today, maybe instead of trying to achieve the dream of a perfect hand selected community of your picking, just receive the gift of the people who are already around you. JT seemed to do that with the best of em.
Brad Goode
Many of our Santa Rosa Beach friends know JT who used to live down in the Seagrove area of town. I got to spend some time with him yesterday just before his passing. Wrote these words when I got home last night as I was processing it all, waited to post them until his family was notified.
When I moved to Santa Rosa Beach just shy of a decade ago we lived in a part of town called Seagrove. It's just east of Seaside and if money were no option it's probably where I would live full time. When living there we met quite the cast of characters in that little village. People like Prudence from the song "Dear Prudence" by the Beatles, to local shop owners like Jason and Anna Lisa Daniels at Clay 30A. We met neighbors like Adams and Marcia Hudson who became dearest of friends.
There was also a guy down there named JT who we got to know as well as we could. In the midst of all these towering beach homes JT seemed to make his home along the beach. We were never really positive where he slept but we were always sure that he would be smiling and waving whenever we saw him pushing his famous cart. He for sure got the award for the tannest man in town.
When we left Seagrove we would still occasionally run into the local celebrity known by his two letters. He would always give a knowing smile and chat with the kids. My son Owen ran into him one time at the Seaside half marathon and he jumped up to the fence and started cheering on all the runners with the kids like he was a former cheerleader or something. Part of JT's legend is that he actually used to formally cheer on the Auburn Tigers, to the best of my knowledge, the second "friend of Aubie" ever at Auburn University. He also ended up doing some work with Jim Henson himself. All of this added to the mystique of JT and his ability to live mysteriously in the neighborhood without me ever hearing a negative word spoken about him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together writes this about community — "The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community." JT like all of us had complicated things from the past, but seemed to get to a place where he just began to love everybody in his path. He didn't need anything from anybody, he was seemingly so content living life on the beach and smiling at everybody that passed, and I think that was the root of the deep affection for him from so many in our little town.
Earlier this morning I got a call from Kate who is a part of our church and has been helping care for JT over the last season of his life. She started working with him in 2001 and has been a close friend since. She said he was in the hospital and not doing great and asked if I could go check on him as she was out of town.
Towards the end of my day I drove over to Sacred Heart and ran into a nurse from our church who had been caring for him ( I just love how kind and generous the people of our church all over this town) and he directed me to his room. When I went in he was fairly unresponsive and I FaceTimed his friends to talk with him. After the call I was able to pray over JT, bless him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then give him a strong War Eagle on the way out.
Not 30 minutes later I got a text while shopping for dorm supplies with my oldest daughter who is about to leave me for college. It simply said, "JT just passed."
It was an honor to be with him in those final moments.
He obviously meant a lot to our little beach town, so I wanted to post this with permission from those who were caring for him to let all of you know he is suffering no more.
There are some folks working on arrangements to give thanks for his life. I'll try to post them when they come available. I'm thankful to have already made some great friends with some of JT's small circle.
Today, maybe instead of trying to achieve the dream of a perfect hand selected community of your picking, just receive the gift of the people who are already around you. JT seemed to do that with the best of em.
