Hall using nephew’s life as teaching tool

Sometimes, the greatest things that we can learn with death arises is how to live.

Even though it will be seven years on December 16, seven years seems like just yesterday when the life of Susan Hall, among other family members of 14-year old Jimmy Blackburn, was turned upside down.

Before the date of December 16, 2011, however, it seemed like Blackburn, a teenager, was living the lifestyle that most additional teenagers would be living.

He had his passions — animals and the outdoors. He had certain areas of school subjects that he liked better than others — Algebra as opposed to plain math, in this case.

But Jimmy Blackburn also had a full, giving heart.

“Jimmy would give away anything he had if he thought that someone needed it,” Hall said. “There wasn’t a time that I saw him that he didn’t give me a hug, and tell me that he loved me.”

And like the vast majority of kids his age, Blackburn had plans for the future — including going to vocational school, and, in a rare sense of responsibility for a young man of his age, buying a truck and helping his father out by obtaining a job of his own in order to accomplish both of the former goals.

So it’s understandable to see how Hall could miss the signs of suicide — because it looked as if there were none there.