James Young Gable

James Gable was an upperclassman I idolized as a kid growing up in Daingerfield. We were both in the band, and became friends even though he was a few years older. Daingerfield had a lot of talented athletes, but I believe he’s the only one to come out for football his Sr year, having never played before, and not only snagged the starting QB job, but made Honorable Mention All Dist. He also made all dist in basketball, played tennis, and even trombone in the band. He was also in a vocal quartet and was a good singer. He taught me to appreciate good music. And did I mention he was a charmer? I regret we lost touch through the years. The news of his passing brought back pleasant memories of those great years growing up in Daingerfield.

I have fond memories of growing up with Jim as a friend! He had a good humor nature about him. In High School he worked on the weekend at Glass Chevrolet and he got me on a few Saturdays. We washed cars and a few times we drove new cars to Dallas and picked up cars and brought back to the dealership.

At one time, Jim, Tommy Terrell, JD Stacy and I, all joined the Army reserves and we took the train in Texarkana to Ft Knox, Kentucky; this was in May. We all wore short sleeve shirts and when we arrived, it was 3 days before we were issued army clothes. We had to fall out at 5:00 AM in the mornings, and it about about 35 degrees there. We froze outside having to do push-ups and exercises in short sleeves for three days.

In 1962 Jim went to work with Jamieson Film Co in Dallas. He worked in the animation department running the Oxberry camera, shooting 1 frame of film at a time. Cell animation, that was the way cartoons and titles were made at the time. After a few years, Jim negotiated with a film company out of Hollywood and opened their branch office in Dallas, N. Lee Lacy, Limited. Jim hired me to become his film editor. We made many trips to LA and worked on several TV commercials out there. One spot, we shot at Bob Hope’s ranch where there was a small Western town set. In the summer’s Jim and I and our Army buddy’s spend two week at Ft. Hood for several years on-going. It was called “Tent City” …talk about hot! He liked to be called J.Y., that’s what I generally call him. After a few years JY went out on his own and opened up his company on Turtle Creek in Dallas. Later, JY started teaching golf as a professional. I took a few lessons from him, he did know what he was doing and went on making his career as a teaching Pro. Lots of good memories. JY will be missed. May he rest in peace!
JDarrell Kirkley