Shop Ghosts

James and Charlotte Oliver with my pregnant wife, Lynne.

To the left is one of the very few pictures of James Oliver in existence. He was a quiet, private man who did not like being photographed. This picture was taken during the construction of his tropical fish aquarium, which was one of our many toolroom adventures. To understand these adventures, which may seem nonsensible to the conventional among you, you need to understand the man.

James Oliver was a self-taught machinist, welder, mechanic, carpenter, bricklayer, boilermaker, painter and architect who would undertake projects that interested him. More often than not, these projects were of a nature that would totally deter or defeat the professional. Although fun, some were so bizarre as to defy any rational explanation.

Lynne and I moved into the Oliver apartments when we were first married and became friends with James and Charlotte. Not having any children, the Olivers sort of adopted us and James easily got me going, as I did him. We were sitting around in the basement of the apartment one evening when Charlotte complained about a dull wall. I jokingly said that James should turn the entire wall into a giant fish tank. Months later, after several episodes of of flooding the basement, it was done and filled with hundreds of assorted tropical fish. That one tank grew into hundreds, necessitating the construction of an entire building to house them and various other projects. I won't even tell you about the alligator in the laundry room or the airplane plans that threatened extreme marital discord. I will say that he taught me woodturning. My very first project was a fully-functional spinning wheel, which was a rather complex project for a novice. To James, if it was not complex, it was not interesting.

James Oliver lived to solve problems and build. During World War II in Europe, he single-handedly put a steam locomotive back on the tracks when it had been toppled by a bomb blast. With no help whatsoever, he jacked up an entire apartment building and put a basement under it. He then jacked up the roof and added another story, which was the apartment into which Lynne and I moved. He designed and built a steam generating system that was the equal of or better than that of any commercial powerhouse, which generated heat for four buildings. Following a trip to Europe, he brought home a Renault Dauphine, which he converted into an electrically powered car. The fish in his acquarium were automatically fed from a mechanized brine shrimp breeder reactor. James Oliver was my friend, mentor and toolrom co-conspirator.