Helen, Carolyn, Kathy, Jimmy, Ruth and Phyllis and all of Jim's family and friends. I am so sorry for your loss and I want to thank you for the honor of allowing me to say some things in remembrance of Jim today. I met Jim Tierney 36 years ago, at the age of 21, when he was the Director of Security at the Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. I had aspirations to be a police officer and he was starting a new Security Department. We hit it off right away and he hired me. I worked with him at the Faulkner and later as his Assistant Director at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton. This was the beginning of a relationship that started with Jim as my boss and then evolved to friend and mentor. Over time, I came to look upon Jim Tierney very much as a father. My own father passed away when I was 2 years old, so I had never had a father in my life that I could remember. I can tell you that if God ever allowed someone to hand pick their dad, I couldn't have picked a better one that Jim Tierney. While I didn't pick him, I believe God did and blessed my life with Jim. Psalm 68 says that God is a father to the fatherless. I believe that one of the ways God accomplishes this in our world is through people. In my case through Jim Tierney. Fortunately for me, along with the blessing of Jim came Helen. Their relationship was nothing short of inspirational. If I could have signed up to be Jim and Helen's kid, I would in an instant. I think there were a lot of people who felt the same way. Jim and Helen have always opened their home, their hearts and themselves to others and made them feel welcomed and loved. There was never a visit to their home, when Jim wouldn't ask, “Would you like a little drop of the pure”. Always followed by great conversation and fellowship. I knew Jim to be a devoted and loyal husband and father. It was very evident that Jim loved Helen and his children unconditionally and intensely. The kind of love that reflects the love God has for all of us. They were frequently a subject of our many conversations over the years. I also learned a lot about what it means to be a good, loving and caring dad from Jim. Jim was a man of wisdom, integrity, generosity, kindness and compassion, who always looked for and stood up for the truth, even when it wasn't convenient or politically correct. He had a strong sense of right and wrong and I will never forget what he taught me, “Right is right if no one is right and wrong is wrong if everyone is wrong”. He would also say, “Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see”. I learned valuable lessons in honesty, morality, integrity and discernment from this man. The way Jim lived his life spoke far more of his character than anything he said, though whatever he had to say was always worth hearing. Jim was a man who believed in doing all he could to contribute to the personal and professional development of people. I was personally a beneficiary of that, as were others. I frequently saw him go out of this way to try to bring out and develop the best in others. As a leader, he gave of himself completely for the benefit of the people entrusted to his care and the organization he served. Jim was the gold standard of people. I have never known a greater man, or a man I had more respect or admiration for than Jim Tierney and I doubt that I ever will. The bar has been set very high by Jim Tierney. Jim was the kind of person you definitely wanted on your side if you were in a bind. While he may not have been a big guy, he was a powerful person in many ways. One of the things he used to say that still makes me smile is, “The big guys may not be any tougher than the little guys, but they aren't called upon to prove it as often”. I could go on and on for quite awhile talking about the things I admired about Jim and the profound effect he has had on my life. Words don't really do justice to describing the kind of man Jim Tierney was. His passing is a great loss to his family, his friends, and to me personally. A light has gone out in this world, but there is a bright, shining light aglow in heaven. I have no doubt that as he met the Lord Thursday morning, God said to him, “Well done good and faithful servant, come on in, sit down and lets have a drop of the pure”. One final word to Jim's family and friends, "May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus and may your memories of Jim and the knowledge that we will be with him again some day in heaven in the presence of God where as it states in Revelation 21, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." May these promises from our loving God give you hope and consolation. Rest in God's Peace Jim. Well done good and faithful servant.