Ex-performer draws on luck o’ the Irish for musical, life rebound

11He grew up in Cleveland, but “got over it,” as he puts it, living in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In the 1950s and ’60s, he was half of the folk-singing duo Pinky and Jim, recording an album and touring Europe.

When he and Pinky divorced, breaking up the act as well as the marriage, he moved to the West Coast and found a new career in show business.

Jim Jenkins may not know if he’s Irish, but he does know he’s lucky.

On Wednesday, Jenkins, who goes by “JJ,” celebrated his latest climb out of the pit by throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party that filled the Tri-Area Community Center.

Accompanied by Hammerin’ Hank Sondie on sax and Raven on bass, Jenkins, who is 70, sang the song and played what had become his theme song for the past year — “I May Be Broke, I’m Not Broken.”

“My life turned around the first week in February,” he said. “I got a new job and a new vehicle.”

Center manager

The new job: manager of the Tri-Area Community Center, replacing George Woodriff, who retired after a long career with OlyCAP, Olympic Community Action Programs.

The new — to Jensen — vehicle replaces one that blew up last year.

And that was just two crises.

“I had a stroke, I lost my job and I lost my girlfriend, all in the same year,” he told the guests before singing.

“Sure, we can laugh about it now.”

The song lyrics — “I may be down, don’t count me out; deal me in to the very end” — are particularly appropriate for Jenkins’ life, in which music has always played a prominent part.

With his first wife, Pinky, he did the folk music circuit in the Midwest as well as Europe, he said.

A high point: appearing on the Mike Douglas Show to sing their recording of “Bob Manry and the Sea,” about a Cleveland man who took off on his two-week vacation and crossed the Atlantic in a 14-foot boat without informing anyone.

But nobody outside the region would probably recognize the song, or the album they recorded.

“We were Kansas City stars,” he explained.

When he and Pinky divorced in 1965, Jenkins hit the road, ending up in Los Angeles, where he did lighting for stage shows.

He also became a photographer and graphic designer — one claim to fame he only recently acknowledges is doing the cover for a Brady Bunch album. (He’s much prouder of the Newport Jazz Festival poster on the wall behind his desk.)

In the ’70s, he moved to Vashon Island, where friends lived, and four years ago, to Quilcene.

Through a series of unfortunate financial decisions, he found himself destitute.

“I was starving,” he said. “OlyCAP saved me.”

In addition to providing Jenkins with food and money to pay utility bills, OlyCAP gave Jenkins a Title 5 job at the Quilcene Community Center.

Two months later, the Tri-Area Community Center manager job came open, and Bob Rosen, QCC manager, recommended Jenkins for the job.

Jenkins said his plans include bringing in more music, improving the computer center and encourage inter-generational gatherings — he’s looking for a Wii game system to go with a 40-inch television that was recently donated.

Getting the job at the center was like being adopted all over again.

“I love these people,” Jenkins said, as people came up to tell him how much they enjoyed the music.

“I found a home here.”

________

Port Townsend/Jefferson County Reporter-Columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at 360-379-5688 or jjackson@olypen.com.

More in News

Peninsula College to continue without budget

Board expects plan in September

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane Ridge on Monday. These tourists from Alaska stopped and photographed the creature from a distance as he slowly ate his meal of wildflowers. The marmot is a rodent in the squirrel family and is unique to Washington state. The hibernating mammal’s burrow is only about 50 feet up the paved path away from the parking lot. The group had just photographed deer at the Ridge. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Olympic marmot

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane… Continue reading

Eighth-graders Saydey Cronin and Madelyn Bower stand by a gazebo they and 58 other students helped to build through their Sequim Middle School Core Plus Instruction industrial arts class. The friends were two of a handful of girls to participate in the building classes. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Middle school students build gazebo for academy

Businesses support project with supplies, flooring and tools

Frank Nicholson and David Martel.
Veterans in Warrior Bike program to pass through Peninsula towns

Community asked to welcome, provide lodging this summer

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County Sheriff Brian King, right, accompanied by Lt. Jim Thompson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police on a leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run on the Olympic Discovery Trail at Port Angeles City Pier. Tuesday’s segment of the run, conducted mostly by area law enforcement agencies, was organized to support Special Olympics Washington and was to culminate with a community celebration at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Carrying the torch

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County… Continue reading

Hopefuls for Olympic Medical Center board debate

Talk focuses on funds, partnership

An encapsulated engineered coupler used to repair a January leak. The leak occurred along a similar welded joint near to the current leak. (City of Port Townsend)
Port Townsend considers emergency repair for pipeline

Temporary fix needs longer-term solution, officials say

Traffic to be stopped for new bridge girders

Work crews for the state Department of Transportation will unload… Continue reading

The Peninsula Crisis Response Team responded with two armored vehicles on Tuesday when a 37-year-old Sequim man barricaded himself in a residence in the 200 block of Village Lane in Sequim. (Clallam County Sheriff’s Office)
Man barricaded with rifle arrested

Suspect had fired shots in direction of deputies, sheriff says

An interior view of the 12-passenger, all-electric hydrofoil ferry before it made a demonstration run on Port Townsend Bay on Saturday. Standing in the aisle is David Tyler, the co-founder and managing director of Artemis Technologies, the designer and builder of the carbon fiber boat. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Demonstration provides glimpse of potential for ferry service

Battery-powered hydrofoil could open water travel

Electronic edition of newspaper set for Thursday holiday

Peninsula Daily News will have an electronic edition only… Continue reading

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her mother, Rachel Shidler of Port Angeles, during Saturday’s Summertide celebration in Webster’s Woods sculpture park at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. The event, which marks the beginning of the summer season, featured food, music, crafts and other activities for youths and adults. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Summertide festival

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her… Continue reading