originally posted on 7/29/2024
Photo: B. Derek Shaw. View full-sized image.
James Green (JW to his friends) passed away the night of May 22, 2024.
I first met JW at ACE Coaster Con 5 at Hersheypark (Hershey, Pennsylvania). Carl Eichelman and I were on the Wave Swinger when Carl yelled down to the midway at a gentleman who was walking and wearing a pair of “deeley boppers” — a fad in the early eighties consisting of a headband with six-inch springs featured stars, balls or some other sort of decoration. After the ride ended Carl introduced me to James “Please call me JW” Green. That was the beginning of a 42-year friendship.
JW with former ACE News Editor and current ACE New Jersey Assistant Regional Representative Mark Davidson.
Photo: Dave Jackson. View full-sized image.
JW was (perhaps) the best damn travel companion — the trips we took together, and with others, remain among my favorites. Always quick with his offbeat sense of humor, he had me laughing the entire way to the parks we visited. He was primarily a champion of the smaller parks (of which there were plenty in Pennsylvania), though he was not averse to visiting larger ones. Together, we enjoyed Dorney Park (Allentown) when Alfundo was still king and Knoebels (Elysburg) before Phoenix had become a topic, as well as Willow Mill and Williams Grove in Mechanicsburg. He was instrumental in so many of my discoveries — Ocean City in Maryland, the Wildwood boardwalk amusement piers, Clementon Park in New Jersey and Angela Park in Drums, Pennsylvania — so many parks and coasters I experienced for the first time with him.
JW climbing beneath the structure of the defunct Speedway at Eldridge Park in Elmira, New York.
Photo: Dave Jackson. View full-sized image.
JW was an avid photographer, and some of his coaster shots were beautiful (I think there was at least one first-place win for Williams Grove Cyclone in the snow). When I finally got a 35-mm camera he helped me learn the craft of photography, instructing me on different issues (like an ultraviolet lens just for protection) and his view of what would compose a great shot.
On one trip to Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell) in 1983, I had driven from Cincinnati and met JW in Knoxville, Tennessee. On a run on the Great American Scream Machine, his glasses came off and hit the lap bar, shattering one of the lenses. He wound up having to drive back from Knoxville to Carlisle with only one decent eye. JW will be missed.
— Dave Jackson
#ACENews