Written by Patrick Shults (I borrowed his story of my dad from Carriage Town Ministries Facebook page): If you ever find yourself on Solomon’s Porch at Carriage Town Ministries in Flint Michigan as the first shift begins you will see a very curious sight. Around eight o’ clock every morning a man on a bike rides onto the porch and chains his ride to a pole just outside the building. Which isn’t so strange, I know. What makes this scene original is that the man is around seventy years old (though you wouldn’t know it until you were face to face) which, as far as I’ve been acquainted with, is generally the age one would settle down and retire from doing things like riding a bike at all, let alone four miles to an eight to four job. If you were to set aside your initial surprise and introduce yourself to him he would tell you his name is Jim Eastman. What he would leave out is that he is one of the most respected and longest employed members of Carriage Town Ministries.
Around the building Jim is best known as “Mr. Jim” and is generally thought of as possibly the happiest, kindest, and gentlest man alive. The residents, however, know him as teacher. I now know of him as an amazing man and hardworking tool of God.
Mr. Jim’s parents were living in Ohio when they learned that Henry Ford was hiring factory workers. Not long after that they packed their bags and headed north to start a family in the then-booming city of Detroit with a $5 a day wage at only nineteen years of age. And soon enough it was started. The Eastman’s had five children, each one three years apart, the youngest of which they named Jim. Shortly after he was born they moved to a different part of Detroit called Southfield where Mr. Jim spent most of his childhood. He was the first class of the newly built Southfield High School of which he boasts he “was a senior his entire high school career.”
Following graduation Mr. Jim went to Michigan State University where he received a bachelor’s degree in teaching. Shortly after earning his diploma from MSU he received a letter from Uncle Sam drafting him into his civic duty in Baltimore teaching at the Counter Intelligence School there. “Luckily, I was drafted in between the Korean and Vietnam wars,” he said, grateful that he didn’t have to serve in any armed combat.
After his service Mr. Jim became what he had originally planned to be, a school teacher. In 1961 he began his career in Fairview, Michigan and after four years there, moved down to Clio where he taught for several years, during which he started a family with his wife, Elois, whom he met at First Presbyterian Church in Flint after he got out of the army. “She sang in the choir,” he said smiling. They married in November of 1960 and are coming up on their fiftieth anniversary this Fall. It is always refreshing to hear of a love that lasts half a century and is as strong today as it was when it started, if not stronger. Mr. Jim supported their family with his teaching and Elois stayed at home raising their two children, who have both grown up to be very successful.
When the children left, Elois came down with a case of empty nest syndrome, which brought her to Carriage Town Ministries. She volunteered forty hours a week for several years. As the ministry began to expand Elois saw an opportunity for her husband who had recently lost his job at a tech school in Flint when it was shut down. The residents at the shelter were in need of education. Many did not pass high school or were simply not trained for the digital world that was quickly approaching. So in 1993 Jim Eastman became Mr. Jim of Carriage Town Ministries, teaching residents basic skills needed to help them get their life back on track. And let me tell you, I’ve seen few people (if any) more proud of what they do and how they do it.
When I asked Mr. Jim to give me an idea of what he does he put on a keen smile and said, “Gladly.”
The Carriage Town learning center started out with one room, one computer, and one teacher. It still has one teacher but the one room has expanded into the next and become twice the size which created space to fit the almost forty computers Mr. Jim has accrued over his 17 years of work here. “I’ve got so many computers I’ve had to start giving them away lately,” he said in his soft tone grinning. In 2006 he started a program that gives free computers to those that graduate his class. In the last four years Mr. Jim has given away 218 computers which, he proudly stated, means 218 graduates.
Within the first five minutes of talking to Mr. Jim I could tell that his heart rests in what he does. Last month he had 121 students, all of which he personally introduced to the program and helped to discover the best learning style suited for them. Unfortunately, not all of them graduate, which of course will always weigh on the soul of the teacher but Mr. Jim decides instead to focus on those that stay. “I can’t let myself get disappointed by drop-outs,” he said confidently. Either way, he gets enough students that stay to keep him busy doing what he loves and he always stays close enough to hear a raised hand. I offered myself up for the program and took a quiz that illuminates the personalized style of learning for students. After I was done he sat next to me and gently explained my personality to me (which was the first time anyone’s attempted that) and he was dead on. Mr. Jim has an intuitive understanding of people and what they need to feel comfortable in the seat of a student, something that is inherent to a good teacher.
So every morning Mr. Jim rides his bike four miles to an eight to four job. That means eight hours and eight miles a day. Multiply that by five days a week and then by roughly 48 weeks a year worked. Take that number and multiply it by the seventeen years he’s worked at CTM and you will find that Mr. Jim has roughly 32,400 miles ridden and hours worked under his belt. That’s enough miles biked to go around the world one and a quarter times and enough hours dedicated to teach thousands of people the skills they need to make good lives for themselves. Before I wrote this story I saw Mr. Jim as a great guy, loving, humble, kind and worthy of a great deal of respect. It’s fair to say that I underestimated.
