Jim Falconer

By Stacey Musulin, University of Connecticut

This July, the CAPFAA community was shocked and saddened by the announcement that Jim Falconer, Director of Financial Aid at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts had passed away. To honor him, the Communications Committee will collect memories of Jim from CAPFAA members and will publish these in the next Newsletter’s Member News. Email your contributions to ttanaro@asa.org or to stacey.musulin@uconn.edu.

Until last year, I had known Jim only by name. Listening to him and hearing others mention him at past CAPFAA events, to me he was a well-respected member of our professional community, but I did not really get a chance to know him personally. Then, at the 2011 Business Meeting, Jim signed up for the Newsletter Committee, which I chaired last year. Our committee had many challenges and Jim contributed greatly to our success. Though he tended to downplay his contributions and did not think of himself as a technically-savvy person, he jumped into his new role. Jim learned how to work two online content management systems within an 8-month span of time, provided valuable feedback on our online website and newsletter, and was a dependable member of our team. Above all, he had a kind and steady nature – a good balance to my often-frazzled temperament – and that is what I will miss the most.

When I read Jim’s obituary, I learned a little more about him and found that we shared an interest in the charity Heifer International. This made me realize that I would have liked to have had the opportunity to talk more with Jim and find out what other things we had in common. But as life would have it, we don’t always get the chance to have that extra time to share with the people who stream in and out of our lives. Maybe that’s a good lesson to try to appreciate the people around us now, amidst our rush to meet deadlines, finish task lists, accomplish goals, etc.

Jim, you will be missed. Namaste.