in tribute
By Vernon W. Cooper, MTC Immediate Past President and Jim’s friend
On
Wednesday March 20, 2013, our good friend and colleague lost his almost seven-year battle with cancer and went home to be with his Lord. Anyone who had the opportunity to know Jim Claxton didn’t know him just as a salesman — you knew him as a Christian and a friend. Jim was born January 25, 1951, to a farming family in Iowa and grew up loving the earth and the people who worked it. After obtaining his BS degree from Iowa State in 1973, he returned home to the family farm and eventually took over the hog and corn operation from his dad. When the bottom fell out of the hog market during the economic downturn of the mid-1980s, Jim was forced to sell the family farm. This major obstacle in Jim’s life, though, brought him to all of us in Maryland. He moved here to be with his sister and to find his lovely wife Debbie, whom he married in 1992. With a solid farm background, Jim took his first job here in Maryland in 1989 working in commercial sales at Clovery Hardware, a Southern States
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MTC Turf News
dealer, in Clovery, MD. This was my first opportunity to meet Jim. As a state turf and seed agronomist with the Turf & Seed Section of MDA, I was at Clovery Hardware one afternoon, checking that all their seed was in compliance. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this guy shows up wanting to know why, what and how I was doing the sampling. Once I explained why I was there, this gentleman rolled up his sleeves and spent the remainder of the afternoon helping me sort through all the seed products in stock. This helping hand turned out to be Jim Claxton. From that day on, Jim and I were friends, even though it was my job to regulate him and his company for the next 17 years. In 1994, Jim went to work for Newsom Seed and quickly became a frequent sight at many of the sod farms and hydroseeder and landscaper projects across both MD and VA, usually with a great big camera in his hand. Jim first became a friend to everyone; then, if they needed some of his product, he would get it for them. He also firmly believed in research and education, and he was
very proud to call everyone at the University of MD Turfgrass Research Farm his friends. After I retired in 2005 from MDA, Jim and I had the opportunity to work together on several perplexing turf problems, typically caused by Maryland’s frequently exasperating climate. Jim never wanted anyone to believe that he was just trying to sell his product, so he would ask me to come along as an independent consultant. Between the two of us, we either discovered the cause and (usually) could recommend a solution, or else we knew who to go to for the answers. Funny thing about Jim was that he didn’t care if the issue was related to his product or not — Jim was there to help a friend. Jim could always be found at the MTC conferences, MTA meetings and functions and the VSG activities, as well. Even after he got sick, Jim would push to help his friends and attend functions, always with his big grin, even though he paid for it physically for days later. In 2011, the Maryland Turfgrass Association (sod growers) presented