Jim Dingwell

One of the best practical jokes I ever executed went kind of like this: one day while my coworker Jim Dingwell was away from the store for just a few minutes, I removed the screw from an arm of his reading glasses.  When he returned, he was followed closely by a couple looking for a diamond ring.  Well, they sat at the diamond desk and began talking about diamonds.  When it came time to ask the details of one particular design, Jim ceremoniously grabbed his reading glasses and with a deft flip of his wrist gave them a flick to extend the arm, and voila … the arm came off and flew into the face of the lady seated across from him.

Jim was quite embarrassed and quick to blame the cheap 3-for-$10 cheaters for the malfunction, but I had to stifle my reaction.  After all was said and done, I think he eventually sold those forgiving souls a ring.

It wasn’t long after they left that I confessed and tried through uncontrollable laughter to apologize.  Being a former military policeman, and chief of police in a small town in Ontario, he was pretty good at keeping his composure, but on that day, I managed to shake the unflappable Jim Dingwell.  With a great sense of humor, he was usually on the giving side of jokes and jibes.

Some of you know him from the retail jewellery scene around Edmonton and others might recognize him as the security coordinator from the Western Canadian Jewellery Expo.  I know him because he was a friend who I once managed to get the best of with a goofy prank.  Jim passed away on Tuesday and will be missed.  If you knew Jim, his obituary is in today’s Edmonton Journal.