“Did anybody ever have a superficial conversation with Jim Button?”
The pastor's question, posed to a crowded memorial service at the
United Church of Gainesville, elicited smiles and vigorous head
shaking. At the reception following the service, several graduate
students, junior faculty, and staff members volunteered that they
attended the service simply because Jim Button had repeatedly gone
out of his way to show them friendship and respect. Both the
question and the comments caught the essence of Jim Button. To
professional colleagues, he was a path-breaking scholar of minority
and urban politics, a pioneer in the academic study of gay rights,
school-based health clinics, and the political mobilization of
senior citizens. But Jim Button was loved and treasured because of
his deep passion for his students, family, colleagues, friends, and
for those Americans who had been treated unjustly by history and
politics.