By DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / Febuary 1, 1999

Gordon “Jim” Erickson of Destrehan is one of those people who just can’t stay still.

Despite a continuous battle with cancer and almost eight decades of life behind him, he’s still working and doing what he loves most – helping people.

Dee Gilbert, manager of Destrehan Hardware, says she didn’t know what a jewel she had found on a chance encounter with Jim Erickson at the Destrehan branch of the St. Charles Parish Library across the street fromthe hardware store. She asked if he was looking for work and if he had anyexperience with hardware.

As fate would have it, Erickson, retired chief financial controller for Uniroyal, had worked as a child in an uncle’s hardware store. Gilbert hiredhim on the spot and has never regretted her decision.

“Nothing ruffles him,” Gilbert says. “He works as hard as a person half hisage.”Hard to imagine when you consider that Jim Erickson has been fighting cancer for over 30 years. It seems Erickson has a gene passed through hismother’s side of the family predisposing him to the disease. The gene isshared with one of his three grown children as well as with Erickson’s brother, who lost a battle with lung cancer three years ago.

It was in 1976 while he was living and working in Birmingham, Ala., thatErickson found out he had prostate cancer. He was asked to consider beinga guinea pig of sorts for an experimental procedure to treat his condition at Emory University in Atlanta. Surgeons implanted radioactive needlesaround the site of the malignant cells and, so far, there has been no recurrence of that cancer.

However, four years later he was diagnosed with lung cancer and went back to Emory University Hospital, where surgeons removed half of his left lung. Now Erickson may be about to confront a third bout with cancer. He’s been diagnosed with leucoplatia – a pre-cancerous condition of his throat.

His daughter Nancy has had three different cancers, as well.

Erickson married Nancy’s mother Margaret when he was 20 and a student at the University of Wisconsin. They had one child when he enlisted in theArmy as an engineer during World War II.

He was assigned to Ft. Custer in Michigan in the Quartermaster Corpsgoing through maneuvers in Lake Michigan in preparation to defend Alaska.

To his surprise his tour of duty took him instead to North Africa and Italy.

After returning home he and his wife had two more children.

Twelve years ago, on a rainy February morning in Atlanta, Erickson was driving his wife to a hair appointment in preparation for a trip to London when their car was hit by another vehicle whose driver had lost control in the storm.

Margaret Erickson died instantly.

Jim Erickson spent the next two and a half months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He now has four steel rods implanted in hisleg between the knee and hip.

He has an almost undetectable limp as an aftermath of the accident and has never regained about 35 pounds he lost in the hospital. He also has a crookedness to his ever-present smile that he says is a symptom of the leucoplatia.

But the twinkle in his clear blue eyes didn’t go away.

Erickson attributes his ability to take life’s tragedies in stride to his personal philosophy .

“I can do nothing about yesterday – it’s already past,” he says. “I don’tknow what tomorrow will bring. So I live for today and enjoy myself.”While Erickson loves to travel, he says the grief over the loss of his spouse banished his desire to go to London. However, he does enjoytraveling to other places.

He met his second wife Anita, a widow, while cruising the Caribbean with friends 10 years ago. The two were on different ships that docked at thesame place off St. Croix.They spoke to each other on the dock and accidentally met again on the island. He moved to Louisiana and married Anita, a native of the NewOrleans Irish Channel who was living in Metairie. The Ericksons have livedin Destrehan since their wedding.

The couple has done quite a bit of traveling and stay involved in many local activities.

Jim Erickson serves as a poll commissioner and has also served as an officer on the board of the Ormond Civic Association. He and Anita arevery active in the Busy Bees, an organization for senior citizens at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Luling.

Around the house Erickson enjoys fixing things, doing crossword puzzles and reading books about politics, especially ones set in places he’s lived or visited.

Erickson says he hopes to live to be 110. He attributes his longevity towine and oysters. He says he drinks a little wine every night. The bestoysters he ever had, he says, were Pacific Coast oysters in Hawaii, but he loves the Acme Oyster Bar in New Orleans which he’s patronized off and on for 40 years, stopping in on business trips until he moved here 10 years ago.

And despite the fact his nutritionist has told him to stay away from sugar, his favorite snack during his one morning break from duties at the hardware store is a Snickers bar.

Erickson’s customers at Destrehan Hardware are loyal to the man they’ve nicknamed “Big Jim.””Some of them come in and if Big Jim’s not here, they say they’ll come back later,” Gilbert says.

The customers know “Big Jim” is not in the job for the paycheck. Aslagniappe, Erickson designs and makes custom Mardi Gras parade ladders to sell during the carnival season.

“My job is interesting,” he says. “I’m learning more about hardware. And Ilove talking with the people.”Back to Top

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