Profile written by Ben Hollingshead, volunteer
The Words Alive 2023 Read Aloud Volunteer of the Year, James Craft, is a Renaissance man with fascinating life experience spanning the gamut from musical performance to defense manufacturing.
James was born in 1951 at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, but he lived here for less than 8 months before his father, a career Navy man, moved. He then had a nomadic existence for the next several years, including five fascinating years as a teenager in Rome, Italy, before returning to San Diego to attend the University of San Diego. After college, James worked in musical instrument retail and manufacturing, then recording engineering and audio system design, and later as a performing musician. He returned to college for an additional electronic technology degree and worked for a local military and commercial radio manufacturer, Datron World Communications. While he stayed with that Datron for almost 25 years, he continued to travel to service communication systems on all five continents. James has been married to Julie DeMeules since 1974, and together they have two sons and daughters-in-law. James is now working what he describes as his best job, a “Professional Grandfather” to three young kids aged 3, 6, and 8.
As a Navy brat, James’ travels fed his voracious appetite for reading. His time growing up in Europe and work-related and vacation travels to Europe, Africa, and Asia “opened his eyes to a larger world and a sense of history.” James enjoys non-fiction and fiction, especially science fiction, political thrillers, and alternative history (e.g., “What if Rome had not fallen”). After he retired, James and his wife joined a philanthropic organization called Social Venture Partners (SVP), and it was through SVP that they were introduced to Words Alive. James’ activities at Words Alive have been almost exclusively focused on classroom reading at the Pre-K level. He has volunteered at the same school for years and has seen students grow, develop their love for reading, and expand their horizons. He hopes to similarly expand his classroom reading at Words Alive to include kindergarten and 1st grade. James, thank you for all your hard work, and congratulations on being honored as our Read Aloud Volunteer of the Year!
Book recommendations: In non-fiction, anything by authors Ron Chernow, David McCullough, Barbara W. Tuchman, and Robert D. Kaplan. For fiction, Mark Twain, Harper Lee, Harry Turtledove, Tony Hillerman, and Tom Clancy. He is reading Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy by Sidney Milkis. For children’s books, James loves author Mo Willems.