Jim Ward

Photo to come

At GHS Jim Ward was one of our most likable classmates.  His popularity was well earned.  He was even popular among the teachers.  Mr. Cramer saw his potential and followed his career for years.

After graduating from Girard High, Jim attended Youngstown University graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.  During this time he was active in Theta Chi Fraternity becoming its Vice President.   

He spent a lot of times doing intramural sports. “I remember getting my jaw busted in 3 places playing football against Big Steve Stephanic,” he recounts.

After that, his time was mostly taken up with card playing and studying.  He was also active in IEEE an Electrical Engineering Fraternity. 

Upon graduation Jim married his girlfriend Carol, a local Youngstown girl, and accepted a job with Ohio Bell in their management training program in Columbus.  It was not an engineering position but a marketing position.  By this time Jim had decided he did not want to be stuck on a drafting table somewhere and he welcomed the opportunity to switch to marketing.

Within a year the Vietnam war was raging.  Jim was fearful of being drafted and going to Vietnam as a “ground pounder.”  So he enlisted in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U. S. Navy.  He was commissioned an Ensign in November of 1966.  

Jim had planned to do his mandatory three years and return to Columbus to resume his career with Ohio Bell.  However, if he stayed only the three years, he would have to serve 3 tours in Vietnam in the Seabees.  So, he extended a year to get a contract administrative job at Travis AFB, California.  In this Construction Administration job at Travis Jim worked with local civilian construction firms and he began developing a considerable amount of knowledge about construction techniques.  Two years later he was asked to do a three year assignment in Greece as the Base Engineer at the Navy Communications Base in Nea Makri, Greece.  Thoughts of Columbus and Bell Telephone began to dim.

“I loved Greece,” Jim says. “The people, the food, the history were terrific. I even learned to speak passable Greek and still can get by.”

Jim and his wife camped through Yugoslavia, Germany, and the rest of Europe.  He went to the Munich Olympics in 1972.

“I’ve been back several times, the last of which was for the Athens Olympics in 2004.  We are actually going to Crete and Santorini in May 2010,” he adds.

From there Jim was selected to Post Graduate School and Camp David so the “hook” was in.  Ultimately Jim ended up spending almost 21 years in the Navy retiring in 1987 as a Commander.  “It was a good career,” he says.  “I saw a lot of the world, did not make much money but made lots of good friends.  What more could one want.”

Ironically Jim’s initial moves to avoid Seabee duty in Viet Nam were to no avail.  He ended up doing two tours of duty as a Company Commander of a 140 man Seabee unit in Viet Nam.

“I was a Company commander for most of the time,” Jim explains.  “We built bridges, barracks , medical facilities, warehouses, built the runway and staging area at Quang Tri about 10 miles from the DMZ.  When we arrived on location there was nothing but a huge white sand dune on the Quang Tri river.” He adds.  “We transformed that sand dune into a forward operating base for the Marines and First Air Calvary. In Viet Nam I got shot at, rocketed and mortared but the Good Lord looked out for me and left me unharmed. I was living in a tent, under fire, smoking cigars, using a 4 holer and working 14 hours a day. It was not the best time of my life but kind of a macho experience.”

All this activity and moving had its toll on Jim’s marriage.  Thirteen years and two children (Jim and Paige)  after their marriage in 1965, Jim and his wife Carol divorced.

Jim spent 3 years at Camp David during both the Nixon and Ford Administrations.  After that he was selected to get his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering in Construction management at the University of California and later spent one year at the Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island where he received a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies.  

“I still remember E=IR but never really made much technical use of my EE degree,” Jim says. “Engineering teaches you to think logically and methodically which has helped me in all my endeavors.”

While in California Jim met and later married his wife Leslie.  They have one child between them. 

“Leslie is an Oakland girl,” Jim says. “After traveling with me to Washington DC and Newport R.I. on Navy tours, we asked for and got assigned to a Bay Area Navy position , bought a house and the rest is history.”  They have a son Josh. 

Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1987, Jim says he was fortunate to buy into a downtrodden Construction Company (Sausal Corporation).   After two years of sleepless nights with his home as the collateral for his line of credit, his company ultimately became a success.  It has grown significantly over the past 23 years.  It took the willingness to take a risk and do a lot of hard work to bring it where it is today.

Like the modest company commander and team player he is, Jim credits his significant success to the efforts of his staff .

Sausal Corporation did some development and some HUD housing work.  When Jim got it, there was nothing going on at all and the company was in the red. “The good news was we bought the company cheap from the estate of the prior owner,” Jim declares.  Sausal initially did small commercial tenant improvement projects and had a maintenance contract with Chevron.  Over several years it evolved into doing more ground up facilities.  Jim took all he had learned in the Navy and applied it to Sausal Corp.  “We built lots of schools which is kind of our niche; fire stations, libraries, city buildings, etc.  Our website is www.sausalcorp.com,” he adds. 

His home is in Lafayette, California about 20 miles east of San Francisco. He had 3 acres at his house and used to spend in excess of $1000 to have it weed wacked every year for brush fire prevention purposes. “One of my best friends owned a winery and vineyards in the central coast and encouraged me to plant grapes which I did in 1999, I now have 1500 vines and no weed-whacking to contend with,” he tells.

Jim takes care of the vines but has a wine maker harvest, ferment and bottle his wine.  The end product is a fine California Pinot Noir.  Website is tassajaracellars.com.

Jim is on the Board of Directors for the Lafayette Winegrowers Assn. as well as the homeowners Assn. in Maui, Hawaii where he and Leslie own rental property.  He is on the board of directors of Martin Resorts Inc. which has 5 hotels in the Central Coast of Calif.,  He belongs to AGC (Associated General Contractors), ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors), and is on The Salvation Army Board of Advisors.

Jim says “I work a lot of enjoyable hours in my vineyard growing Pinot Noir, I have season tickets to the “A’s and the Warriors and go to a fair amount of games.  My wife Leslie and I travel a fair amount,” he adds.

The list of their travels is fairly long.  In includes nearly all of Europe, a couple of the former Soviet Union states, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya,& Tanzania in Africa, Jordan, Qatar, Oman,  Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Bali, Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile

“It is always good to come home. This is my favorite place,” he states.

The road has not always been smooth for Jim Ward. In 1991 he was diagnosed with Colon Cancer.  “When the doc told me I had Colon Cancer I felt pretty mortal,” Jim recounts. “My mother had died of Colon Cancer so it was somewhat of a double whammy.”

Ultimately Jim lost 8 inches of his colon and was on Chemo for 7 months until he could not take it anymore.  Of the Chemo experience he says, “When I got my weekly ‘fix’ of Chemo I saw lots of people in much worse condition.  Some were just kids. It was heart wrenching to observe.”

Jim also got prostrate cancer in 2000.  He took radiation therapy and today is fine except for more frequent trips to the men’s room.

Jim used to enjoy skiing (out of control) but had a hip replacement 4 years ago.  Today he enjoys working in his vineyard, biking (peddle type), snowshoeing, and beach time.  He feels very blessed and thankful to still be among us. 

Son Jim (from first marriage) works part time for at Sausal while finishing his Masters in Philosophy/history to become a JR College Prof. He has a daughter Anaya who is 9 years old and Jim’s first grandchild. 

Daughter Paige (first marriage) lives 20 minutes from Jim and will soon present him with his third grandchild.  Paige already has a son, Everett who is 1½ years old.  In April she will deliver another grandson. Paige is married to Pierre Caron, a “Canuk” from Prince Edward Island she met while working on Cruise Ships.  He’s a great son-in-law and also works at Sausal as a Project Manager.

Leslie and Jim’s son Josh is single and lives in San Francisco where he completed his Master is Construction Management from Stanford.  Josh works for Sausal, as well as Pierre, Paige’s husband, as Project Managers.  The goal is to have Josh ultimately take over the business.

Jim’s first wife Carol and her husband live only 30 minutes from Jim and Leslie.  She and her husband are frequent visitors to Jim’s home for dinners and family events so their two children do not have to choose where to go.

Mr. Cramer would be, no is very proud of you Jim.  You have certainly fulfilled his hopes and expectations.  He looks down on our class with that wide warm smile of his, very proud indeed.