Jambos With James

While on a weekend vacation to see their beloved LSU Tigers play, Jim and Mary T deBrueys get a call that would stop any parent's heart. "We're calling to let you know that a boat transporting your son, James, and others has gone missing." From that surreal moment and on through the next ten years, Mary T, Jim, and their family and friends have nothing but love, grace, family, and faith to see them through.

In this unusual memoir, Mary T's recollections and correspondence from friends paint a colorful picture of James, a hilarious, sweet-natured twenty-two-year-old determined to do good in the world. He is on a volunteer mission to teach impoverished children in the Marshall Islands when his boat goes missing. But readers will get to know James personally from the letters he writes home; witty, loving, observant, and kind, they paint a portrait of an exceptional young man on the cusp of adulthood, with plans to make a difference.

A story of unimaginable loss and the path to finding grace, Jambos with James will speak eloquently to others who have lost children and to young people who have lost friends and/or siblings, showing the hope and even joy that comes from living through and accepting such a tragedy.