Jim Osei

Born James Osei Mensah Owusu on October 14th, 1950 at Asawasi, a suburb of Kumasi, a city in Ghana, to Kwabena Owusu Nkwantabisa and Adjoa Adjeiwaah, Jim started his primary education at Asawasi and continued at Bonwere. He completed middle school at Agona Swedru in the Central Region of Ghana. After middle school, Jim was enrolled at the Odorgorno Secondary School in Accra in 1968, but left and continued at the Amaniampong Secondary School from 1968 to 1973. At Amaniampong Secondary School, Jim excelled in athletics and other sports activities. He specialised in Long and High Jumps and he was also the best runner in 400 metres at his time at the school. This earned him the nick-names ‘Long Jim’ and American Man. Probably, because of his height or because African-Americans dominated track events in the United States of America. Spurred by his nick-name, perhaps, Jim always had a dream of travelling to the United States. His first journey outside his native Ghana after secondary school, however, took him to Germany in 1973. Where he met his first wife Georgina Cudjoe and the mother of his only child Jim Osei Jr., affectionately called Junior. He returned to Ghana 4 years later in 1977 and after a couple of months, left for Germany in July the same year. From Germany he migrated to Canada in 1979 from where he continued to his dream land: the United States of America in 1980. He was admitted to the School of Radiology at Wayne State University, where he graduated in Radiology in 1984. As a member of the American Registered Radiology Technologist (ARRT). Jim worked at the DMC Harper University Hospital (formerly Grace-Harper Hospital), for 20 years. As a faithful and ardent Jehovah’s Witness, Jim took his missionary work seriously. He attended the Ministerial Training School of the Jehovah’s Witness Ministerial College, in Belleville, Michigan and graduated in May 1998. He was a member of the 39th Class. For many years he was elder at the West Central Congregation in Detroit, Michigan In 2004 he relocated to Owensboro, Kentucky, where he continued his professional work. He initially worked at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital and later at the Mercy Health Anderson Hospital in Owensboro and Anderson respectively. In 2007, he acquired a property in rural Falmouth, a predominantly farming community, where he fell in love with country life and made there his permanent home. Jim did not allow his profession to take over his love for missionary work. He made time to teach in the local Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation and went on to start assemblies in Cincinnati and Columbus. Through his selflessness and sacrifice, he continued to volunteer with the VA in Cincinnati for many years. Throughout his life, Jim didn’t forget his high school passion for running. Long Jim was a prolific marathon runner. Which took him from his lovely city of Detroit to New York, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, London,Amsterdam and later in Cincinnati. Jim was a passionate art collector and accumulated paintings, drawings, artefacts and African carvings. Jim took an early retirement at 62. And enjoyed his hobby of running and his interest in foreign affairs. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2015. A fighter as he was, he never gave up and continued to do everything as normal until June 2022 when his Primary Care Physician advised him to stop driving: one of the things he loved most. Jim battled with all his might, but as the preacher says in Ecclesiastes 3 : 1-2 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die;...”, in the quiet evening of October 12, 2023, Jim has succumbed to the unmerciful disease and departed peacefully. A vacuum no one can fill, he will greatly be missed!

Jim Osei

October 14, 1950 - October 12, 2023