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Have you heard the one about…
If you had the chance to meet James Campbell, you probably heard one or more long-winded jokes or stories you weren’t sure you could quite believe that began with those words. People often describe someone as the kind of person who has never met a stranger, but James embodied that sentiment more than just about anyone else, not just because he loved to talk, though he did, or because he liked to entertain, which he was good at, but because he was genuinely interested in the lives of others. He cared about those close to him, those in his community, and those he simply encountered through happenstance, which was, perhaps, the most remarkable thing about a truly remarkable man. James loved to help people, even when he didn’t have to, even when no one except the person he helped would ever even know. If you needed a job, were stuck with medical bills, or just had your truck stuck in the mud somewhere, James would come to your aid. Whether it was by a fish fry, a call to a friend, or getting the chains out to tow you, James was all in. If you counted the people James helped throughout his life, mostly done without fanfare, you would be counting for far longer than even the longest yarn he could spin. And that is saying something. James was born in DeFuniak Springs, Florida on July 29, 1948, to Henry and Vivian Campbell. His Daddy was a hard worker, and his mother was a young homemaker. When James was little, he started his walk with Jesus. There was a small church near their house that James would walk to, mind you, he was only six years old, and it was there that he committed to Christ and was baptized. His only time of doubt was when his niece, Meagan, was killed in a car accident.
That loss was deeply felt and tested his faith. His faith endured, grew, and it was his trust in Jesus that helped him recover from that tragedy. He wasn’t always in a pew, singing a hymn, or reading the Bible, but he embodied what it meant to be a Christian man: devoted to his family, always with a helping hand out to anyone in need and comforted by the strengths of his beliefs. The young Campbell family moved to Niceville shortly after James was baptized and started out on Kelley Hill. He had a group of friends there that ran around like a pack of bear cubs, wild and free and into everything! Lavon Mason can tell you stories about their escapades that leave you shaking your head. The family was soon joined by James’s little brother, Wayne, and they eventually moved to a home on East Park Avenue, which, despite the ritzy name, was best known for being situated across from an actual park. James would, soon enough, meet his neighbor across that park, a little blonde girl named Gail Helms, who would become his high school sweetheart and, later, his beloved wife of fifty-four years. James was too busy riding his bike, playing baseball or softball, and running around with other children to take much notice of her just then, but he would get there. At that time, he was too busy playing all sorts of games with the other kids in the area, creating a track and field set up that was an homage to the Olympics and digging deep holes in the dirt to create tunnels that thankfully didn’t collapse on their heads and end our story right there. They rode their bicycles to Mossy Head and back to Niceville to end the day with swimming in the bayou and eating watermelons and played week-long Monopoly games that became legendary. They all cheated by bringing play money from their games at home, so they never ran out. Wayne was the worst (or best, depending on how you look at it), as he hated losing, especially to his big brother. In school, James was known for his studious and serious demeanor. Okay, that’s a lie. A teacher once tied him to a chair because he couldn’t sit still. Always the competitor, while at Ruckel Junior High, he won a bet with friends to see who could get to a hundred licks the fastest. His parents weren’t too pleased with his accomplishment, but he would snicker about it in the retelling for the rest of his life. In high school, he walked right inside rival Choctaw and took the Eagle they had planned to destroy at their pep rally before the big game. He and some other students greased their totem pole. Teenagers did that back then, and James always had a fearlessness to him and always seemed to be in the mix of whatever was going on. His school-age shenanigans were the stuff of legends, and maybe he would have ended up on a very different path had it not been for his parents, his love of and talent for basketball, and that little blonde girl who was cheering for him at games. James was raised in a family of hard workers, so he got his first job at Carr Hardware on Bayshore Drive in Niceville. He bicycled to work at the age of 14 and worked there through high school. His respect for the Carr family was boundless. Even working as much as he did, he found time to play basketball at Ruckel and then at Niceville High School. He played on the 1966 championship team that went to the State of Florida playoffs. Imagine a small school that was brand new going to State! James was chosen as Mr. Senior and was also captain of his basketball team during his senior year. After graduation, James went to what was then Okaloosa Walton Junior College on a basketball scholarship. As part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the college, he was named as one of the top 25 graduates of OWJC. James married the little blonde girl across the park on August 10, 1968. He and Gail started out in a 10’-wide mobile home in Pensacola. Thanks to James’s penchant for dogs, James acquired two basset hounds. Please notice that Gail played no part in that acquisition. These hounds rather famously ended up the subject of an Olan Mills portrait when James failed to show for pictures that Gail had scheduled for the two of them as newlyweds. He saw his wife’s Volkswagen bug with two basset hounds in the back tear past the golf course in Pensacola, where he was playing golf and with no care about his missed photography appointment, and he assumed, well, that was it, she was leaving him. She did not, but gained a lovely picture of two hound dogs out of it. The hound dog portrait followed the couple back to Niceville, where they moved to be closer to their families. After a job with Vitro and Jordan School Supplies, James began to work for the City of Niceville, something he would do until his retirement. During that time, he oversaw the parks and recreation department, spearheading numerous youth sports activities, playing fields, parks, and, near and dear to his heart, the softball complex which, under his stewardship and coupled with untold cups of coffee, attracted national tournaments in addition to supporting local church and recreational leagues. Though he probably shouldn’t have been, James was really surprised by his selection for the All Sports Association, “Al Byrne Award” for his contributions to recreation opportunities for the children and adults in Niceville and surrounding communities. That was an award that he treasured. At the time that James started with the City of Niceville, the city had a volunteer fire department, so James joined, of course, and was selected as the Captain. With the same fearlessness that let him stride into a rival school and steal their pep rally trophy, he actually ran into fires to save who or what he could and did it without much regard to his own safety. There are people walking around today because of him. Added to his various jobs with the City and recognizing James’ talent for engaging with people, Mr. Corbin made him Public Relations Director too. The Public Relations job led to his involvement in the Niceville-Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce. James loved promoting Niceville and served on the Board of Directors and as President. Ever the competitor, James recruited 100 new members to win the prize for the most initiates (if there was a prize, no matter what it was, James was going to go for it). He also enjoyed his uncanny luck at the many drawings the group had and was known as the luckiest man there! While with the Chamber, James co-chaired the first Relay for Life event in Niceville. He was given the James Campbell Vanguard Community Spirit Award for his dedication and was presented with a “You Rock” award for his untiring work with the Chamber. Never one to miss a chance to try something new, James was involved in a television venture where he was the star. His topic was mostly fishing, and he could talk about everything from cast net fishing to deep sea fishing. Then, he starred in a series of television programs called “Time Out for Sports.” He went about interviewing people who did all sorts of different sports. He loved it! Alas, he didn’t soar to stardom, but he sure had a good time promoting the recreation possibilities around Niceville and Okaloosa County. As you can tell, the little boy who couldn’t sit still in school was not content to simply do a good job and call it a day. Outside of work, James devoted his free time to other pursuits to improve his community, including frying countless plates of fish to raise money for various people and causes, and raising funds for such ventures as the Niceville Children’s Park. He organized many golf tournaments to raise funds and his city “Blue Team” was always golfing for the prize. Sometimes, they actually won it too. He loved helping, and one of his best traits was always assuming that others did, too. You may have gotten a phone call once or twice based on that assumption, but chances are, you didn’t say no, maybe because you knew he would do the same for you as whoever it was he was helping that time. HIs community rewarded him for his efforts by electing him to the Board of County Commissioners for two terms, where he focused much of his attention on the parts of the county that were traditionally overlooked. From one end of the county to the other, his red truck was a regular fixture, whether it was major infrastructure projects or a resident who needed their sidewalk repaired. Though it sounds like there wouldn’t be time for anything more, James was hardly all work and no play. He loved to hunt, spending many long weekends at his hunting camp, often doing more socializing than actual hunting, though he enjoyed a good tree stand as much as the next Boggy Boy. The Boggy Boys of Forest Home, Alabama hunting camp was his happy place. He loved the camp and his buddies who hunted with him. He managed to hunt deer in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, and Canada. If you had land to hunt on, or had even the remotest connection to someone who did, he probably talked to you about a hunting trip. He could cast a mullet net like few others and fry them up to a golden brown. You might have had a plate or two of his mullet at the annual Mullet Festival and talked to him over the bubbling grease while college football played overhead. He loved car racing, taught himself golf, played softball, and was an expert at taking money from people in a game of horseshoes. He loved to win, no matter what the game or contest! He won a cast net competition, the Mr. Mullet title, and the Neatest Beard contest. The Boggy Boys often had fishing tournaments that he and Gene “Pa” Brown usually won. The truth is that Gene was one heck of a fisherman, and James merely helped him out a little, but a win was a win! James ran various 5K races and marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 1994. The best thing about that particular marathon was that the people of the City of Niceville pitched in to help pay for the trip to Boston. Now where does that kind of thing happen? Niceville, of course! All of that makes him sound very busy, and he was, but he still managed to always put his family first. He coached his son’s basketball team, took him hunting, went to every honor’s assembly, and chorus concert. He was so proud of his children, Caryn and K.C. He was even prouder when they both made him a Papa! When Caryn brought Aslan home from China, he was known to share a picture or two of his little darling to whomever was nearby. Later, he could be caught having a tea party with Aslan, and indulging her Snow White obsession by waking her up over and over with a kiss in his role as “Papa Charming.” He loved to sit outside in his swing with his granddaughter Emerson as she entertained him with songs, and enjoyed taking grandson Brady to the lake in our neighborhood to fish. Brady also liked adding wood to the old cast iron stove and building a fire to roast marshmallows. Being a Papa to his grandchildren gave him more pride and sense of accomplishment than anything. James was particularly proud of his little brother, Wayne. When Wayne moved his family back to Niceville, the two of them were able to spend more time together and they were incredibly close. Wayne and his wife, Susan have been extremely supportive of James, and he loved them dearly. He also loved his sister-in-law, Cam Helms, who was always asking how she could help. James’ love for his family was often the quiet kind, like making his vertically-challenged wife a grabber so she could reach the figs in her fig tree to make into jam that he didn’t eat or having his kids work at the softball complex with him so he could spend time with them. It was often quiet, his love, but his family heard him loud and clear. It is impossible to sum James up in even as many words as we have indulged in here. For those who were lucky enough to call him a friend, and there are so, so many of you, we hope this sparks a memory for you and makes you smile, because getting a laugh was one of his great joys in life. James was a small town man in the most extraordinary sense of that phrase. He loved his community and the people in it, and to him, as much as he loved to talk, the way to express that love was to do. Mr. Rogers said to look to the helpers, and the thing is, if you needed help, and you looked, it was often James who was there first in line. If a person’s life is measured by the lives they touch, if that is our legacy, then James’ life, while finite like all of our’s, was immeasurable.
James is survived by his wife, Gail Campbell, Caryn Campbell (Daughter), K.C. Campbell (Son), Ashley Campbell (Daughter-in-law), grandchildren Aslan Campbell, Brady Campbell, and Emerson Campbell, Wayne Campbell (Brother), Susan Campbell (Sister-in-law), Camilla Helms (Sister-in-law), Ryan Campbell (Nephew), his “always-hanging-out-at-our-house son,” Steve Williams, Robert Helms (Brother-in-law), Jane Helms (Sister-in-law), and Baxter (dog). He was preceded in death by Henry Campbell (Father), Vivian Campbell (Mother), Willine Helms (Mother-in-Law), William Helms (Father-in-law), Meagan Campbell (Niece).
The celebration of his life will be at the First Baptist Church on Bayshore on Monday, October 10, 2022. Visitation will start at 12:00pm and end at 2:00pm. The service will begin at 2:00pm with interment following at Heritage Gardens Cemetery on North Partin Drive in Niceville.
James was treated with great care by the doctors, nurses, and staff at Emerald Coast Cancer Center, Twin Cities Hospital, and Covenant Hospice. With this in our hearts, we ask that donations be made to the Northwest Florida State College Nursing program under the Meagan Campbell Scholarship Fund.
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