Another Friend Is Gone


Rick Tincher


On June 22, James Carl (Jim) Yost passed away at his home in Mannington, WV. Jim had a great influence on me and my family. My children loved him. He was a faithful member of the Mannington Church of Christ, and he loved the Lord’s church. Sometimes when a person dies he or she leaves an empty space in the lives of many people. Jim was such a person. He had some characteristics that few seem to have these days.


He got involved in the lives of people – always and everywhere. I remember a year or so ago when a teenage girl was killed in a four-wheeler accident near his home. I was visiting with Jim and his family. We stopped what we were doing, and he met with the father and mother. He took them to the terrible scene of the accident, and, with true sympathy, he helped that family. He showed no favoritism when it came to helping people. He helped alcoholics, people who were down and out, or who had suffered loss. Wherever there was a need, Jim just seemed to be there.


He understood the concept of Matthew 25:34-36, “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”


I attended Jim’s wake and funeral. It is estimated that around a thousand people attended the wake. I was there for about eight hours, and many people showed up that Jim had cared for and helped. The family that lost their daughter in the four wheeler accident came. One rather rough-looking fellow walked up to me, and we began to talk. He told me of his problem with drugs and alcohol and how Jim had “saved his life.” I heard more than one “He saved my life” story that day. Jim truly cared for people.


Another thing I loved about Jim was his courage. He had not one bit of compromise in him. If he believed it, that was it! Period! He had a strong sense of right and wrong. He firmly believed in God’s Word, and the Lord’s church always came first. Now I’ll be the first to tell you that sometimes his uncompromising courage got him in a “jam.” When I think of Jim, I think of passages like Deuteronomy 5:32: “Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” That was Jim!


One final thing about Jim that had an impact on me and many others was his commitment to his family. His wife Katie (daughter of the late Jesse Ennis) has been ill for a number of years, and Jim faithfully took care of her. He told me one time that he had his hands full, but he added, “I don’t regret one day I’ve had with Katie.”


Among the many who showed up for Jim’s wake was Craig Matheny who made this comment: “They were a close family – wherever you saw one of them you saw them all.” Craig also said if it had not been for Jim Yost, he would probably not be faithful in the Lord’s church today. Few have that kind of impact on the people around them.


Jim will be missed by many. “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’” Revelation 14:13. -14310 Wooster Rd., Mt. Vernon, OH 43050.


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