It Happened in Crawford County: Community involvement is a big part of Jim Rinker's life
Jim Rinker is a fifth generation of Swiss farmers who came to Bucyrus years ago. He is the son of Robert and Donna Rinker, and his siblings are Jean (Ron) Ridge, and Joan (James) Kissling. Robert graduated from Bucyrus High School and joined the army fighting in Europe and the Philippines. He worked at Galion Manufacturing as a machinist, retiring after 44 years. Donna graduated from Lykens High School, went to Ohio University, worked for GE and later she worked at Ulmer’s Electric and retired from Fischer’s Hardware.
Jim went to Bucyrus Schools, played football and basketball, and graduated in 1967. He went on to Ohio U. majoring in radio and broadcasting before discovering college wasn’t his thing. He came home and found a job at Bucyrus Blades and then joined the Navy. That took him to Waukegan, Illinois, for boot camp. He came home for two weeks, and back to Waukegan as a company commander’s aide and helped push boot camps for about six months. His expertise was the drill team and efficiency, making sure everything in the bunk was squared away.
Next, Jim got orders to Charleston, South Carolina, to join the fleet for about six months, and then he put in a request for A school. It was like a tech school for more defined training to become an electrician. After 12 to 14 weeks he went back to Charleston and rejoined the fleet to the USS Huntley AS31. The ship was named after the Confederate first iron-clad ship that was sunk in the Civil War at Charleston. The USS Huntley took care of submarines with torpedoes and missiles, and Jim was out to sea with them. The submarines came alongside the ship, and they served as a warehouse to provide for their needs.
Next, the same ship went from South Carolina to Guam to replace the ship Simon Lake which was headed into drydock for a retrofit. Guam is a nice island 4 to 6 miles wide, 32 miles long and 80% of it is owned by the federal government. Guam has beautiful weather and is to the Japanese as Niagara Falls is to the U.S. Jim said they had a lot of liberty there and could enjoy the beaches that drop down fast, and you would be in 10 feet of water at once with crystal clear water. After this tour, he left the service and came back to Bucyrus and went back to the Bucyrus Blades as a shear operator. They put him on as an electrician in maintenance to tear a wall down. He stayed in that position until he retired after 47 years of service as a maintenance tech with the ability to fix anything.
Sometime then, Bob Slater contacted Jim to get into Bucyrus Little Theatre where he became a song and dance man for different shows. They did "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music" twice, and he also had the lead in "Born Yesterday," playing a millionaire junk man. The girl in the show with him was Cindy Light. They played a card game and Jim tries to teach her how to play, but she never wins. It was a great comedy with many laughs. Helen Picking Neff directed the show. They took that "card game" to the Ohio Community Theatre Association (OCTA) to be judged and Cindy was coached to go overboard with it. They were judged by professionals and received an outstanding grade!
About that same time, Jim got involved with the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival setting up the food trailers and wiring them up. Jim has been their president twice and now his son, Adam, is the current president. Active at that time was also Charlie Looker and Ron Barnes, both deceased, and Jim. The job is a massive responsibility to wire about 5,200 feet of cable. Jim has "roped" his grandson Isaac Beck, a freshman at Colonel Crawford, to learn as an apprentice, and he enjoys it very much. His sister Sophia is a senior, on the state qualifying golf team, and Sarah was the 2019/20 Brat Fest Queen and is now in college. Jim has two grandchildren in Maryland, Ava and Jack, and two in Las Vegas, Aydan and Aspen, and the oldest granddaughter, Averee, who just moved to Bucyrus because she likes a small town.
Jim’s wife Bonnie was the first woman special deputy in Crawford County under Floyd Smith. Together they raised four kids: Adam, who works for Job and Family Services; Rami, police dispatcher for Galion PD; Terra, works in a bio lab; and Ryan, a gym teacher/coach.
Jim is the current president of the Bucyrus Police Department Auxiliary, which he has been involved with since 1997. The Auxiliary is a civilian support group that helps the police department with security at ball games and events.
Jim is that guy always on the move. He has a larger-than-life personality and his philosophy is stay busy, enjoy life, wake up every day with a smile on your face and with an attitude to "get it done!"
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: It Happened in Crawford County: A profile of Bucyrus native Jim Rinker
