James (“Jim”) Eugene Rayner, born on September 25, 1948, unexpectedly passed away on December 21, 2020. Jim was the son of the late Pearce Tyler (“PT”) Rayner and Amy Garland Massey Rayner. Jim is survived by his partner of twenty years, Irene Copeland Upshur, ex-wife Margaret Ann Landrum, daughter Lauren Rayner Davis, son-in-law Logan Davis, grandson Brooks Fulton Davis, siblings Pearce Rayner, Helen Rayner, and Thomas Rayner, and his niece Meaghan Rayner Ottesen and nephews Philip Rayner, Tyler Rayner, and Sean Rayner (his late nephew, Keith Rayner, sadly passed away in 2009), as well as his great nieces Phoebe and Evelyn and great nephews Benjamin, Christian, Colin, and Pearce. PT’s job as a salesman for Johnson & Johnson took the family to many locations around the country and Jim was born in South Charleston, West Virginia. He was lovingly called “Jimmy” by his mother and family throughout his childhood. His maternal grandmother, Harriet Alice Odell Massey, occasionally said that Jimmy was the most affectionate of her fourteen grandchildren. Grandmother Massey once said that when Jimmy was a little boy of four or five, he would come up behind her and give her a spontaneous hug.

Jim grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and had incredibly fun times with his brothers and sister. He learned to fish and trap game in the creeks and streams around Princeton when he was a boy. Jim attended St. Andrew’s School, a boarding school in Delaware, as did his brother Tom. At St. Andrew’s, Jim played basketball, rowed crew, and played defense as #44 on the football team of which he eventually became team captain. One of Jim’s classmates fondly recalls Jim “on the football team as he put his head down and hurled himself heedlessly into the middle of the opponents’ line from his thankless post at fullback.” He received the top football award one year, a beautiful silver plaque. Jim, like his brothers, was tall, blond, and handsome. He was not the sort of young man who, shall we say, had trouble getting a date to the prom. During his late teens and early twenties, his mother Amy said to one of her sisters that the phone would “ring off the wall” during the debutante ball season. He was a much sought-after escort. Amy also often said that Jim was her best reader. He read and he read and he read and had excellent, discriminating taste in books.

Jim met Ann in Princeton in 1974. They lived in Princeton, Washington, D.C., Arlington, Virginia, Orlando, Florida and Rocky Hill, New Jersey. They married in 1985. In 1987, Jim’s daughter Lauren was born. After Jim and Ann divorced in 1992, Lauren and Ann moved to Arlington. Jim visited often until he moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 2000 to be closer to Lauren. It was around this time that close friends introduced him to Irene. Jim and Irene built beautiful homes together, an idyllic cabin in the woods in Chester Gap, Virginia and the funkiest house (which is actually three houses pushed together) on the Indian River in Jensen Beach, Florida. True to form, these houses are not filled with any cookie-cutter store bought furniture, but instead are filled with items that Jim found, salvaged, or simply built from scratch. He was a talented builder and built many residential homes throughout his life, including his parents’ home on a serene lake right near downtown Orlando and the house where Lauren was born in Rocky Hill which was just around the corner from his brother Pearce’s home, a historical house that Jim also helped to build out and restore. In addition, he volunteered his time and built sets for Lauren’s plays throughout middle and high school and even helped Lauren with her set builds as she ventured into her stage and film producing career in New York City before she became an attorney. Jim also was renowned for his green thumb and his and Irene’s love of gardening can be seen in the impossibly lush gardens that they grew together.

In 2019, Jim’s grandson Brooks was born. He was a loving grandfather and it is such a blessing that he had the chance to meet Brooks, whom he adored. He would often FaceTime with Lauren, Logan and Brooks while Brooks was playing in the bath and Jim would ask “the little duck” what he was up to. Jim’s adventurous spirit lives on in his grandson who is every bit as a strong-willed, handsome, and loving as he was.

On Saturday, December 19, 2020, after many months of riding out the pandemic with Irene at home, Jim fell at home in Jensen Beach. He FaceTimed with Lauren after the fall and said he did not hit his head, but the jostling from the fall caused an internal bleed to form in his brain which developed during his sleep that night. Irene stayed by his side at the hospital the entire time, just as she always faithfully did in times past. Jim passed away just two days later, peacefully with no pain within 27 minutes of being on palliative care and his doctors advised that he likely did not feel any pain after he went to sleep on Saturday night. He was 72 years old. In the days since, one of Jim’s oldest friends said that he “lived bravely and full-on,” was “so talented and intelligent,” and that “his heart was so large he could never be defeated.” Other family and friends recalled hiking with him, heading down to the river to fish, sailing on the bay, hanging at the beach, and countless outdoor dinners with the delicious food that he cooked. Jim was taken from us far too soon, but his indomitable free spirit will live on in our hearts. Expressions of support in Jim’s memory can be made by donation to a cancer research organization based in Arlington, Virginia as Jim would have likely wanted to support the cause as a result of his beloved nephew being recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer.