Jim Rentz

Francis James Rentz, a puzzle solver, woodworking hobbyist, and Eagle Scout who mentored countless young men through the Boy Scouts of America, eventually earning the local council’s highest honor, died June 1 in Graniteville, South Carolina. He was 75.

Jim Rentz was an active member of Bainbridge First Methodist Church in Georgia, where he lived most of his life until moving in with family in South Carolina due to illness.

Jim was born on July 4, 1950, in Brunswick, Georgia, to William Chason and Susie Bedell Rentz. A few years later, the family moved to Jesup, Georgia, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. He graduated from Wayne County High School in 1968, where he played clarinet in the marching band and was the first commander of the school’s newly formed Air Force Junior ROTC.

He worked in his father’s feed mill and mowed lawns around town using a riding mower he purchased with the money he made.

Jim attended the Georgia Institute of Technology (which he called “North Avenue Trade School”) before transferring to Auburn University, where he earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1974. At Auburn, he was active in his fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, and in 1972, he and a fraternity brother went on a double date with two women who were students at the University of Montevallo. It proved eventful: Jim would marry his date, Patrice Hall, the next year, and the two would go on to have two children, Sarah and Mark.

Work at chemical plants would take Jim and Patrice to cities across the Southeast — Jesup; Fernandina Beach, Florida; Geismar, Louisiana; and Brunswick, Georgia — before the family settled in Bainbridge in 1986. There, he landed a job at Engelhard Corp. (later purchased by German company BASF) in nearby Attapulgus. In 2007, Jim was part of a team that won an innovation award; they were honored at an event in Germany. He retired in 2008, and 10 years later, he and Patrice took a trip to Alaska that he would talk about for the rest of his life.

Jim was a scoutmaster and led a busload of boys from the Suwanee River Area Council to the 1997 National Scout Jamboree. He remained involved in scouting for many years, serving on Eagle Board of Review committees where he guided young men in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout. In 1995, he was awarded the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor a local council can bestow upon a volunteer. He coached his son’s youth baseball teams and had season tickets to the Bainbridge Bearcats football games.

Jim loved trains, both model sets and real ones, and would drive miles off the beaten path to see a restored engine. Many family road trips included a stop at a hobby store so Jim could check the N-gauge sets while the rest of the family checked their watches. His reminder tone on his phone was a train horn; it would blow throughout the day – check tire pressure, change filters, renew a subscription, birthday and anniversary reminders. He never missed an important date.

Jim liked taking photos and working jigsaw puzzles, and, for many years, he and his daughter would spend the time between Christmas and New Year’s putting together puzzles while watching football bowl games. He took pride in solving any type of puzzle, from repairing a broken appliance to balancing a budget on the computer.

When he wasn’t in the house, Jim could be found in his shop building items large and small: a plant stand, a plank chair, a corner shelf, children’s step stools, kitchen shelving and drawers, and a child-size table and benches, among other items he made for his family. He was particularly fond of using redwood that was leftover from porch swings his father had made for his family.

At Bainbridge First Methodist Church, Jim served on the church's board of trustees. Soon, church members knew what his family had always known: Jim kept meticulous records, managed numbers and budgets down to the penny, and could recite any fact or figure related to such for years after a transaction. At home and at church, he was laser-focused on utility costs and ways to bring them down, though he bristled at the push to phase out incandescent bulbs.

Jim is survived by his wife of almost 53 years, Patrice Hall Rentz; his daughter, Sarah Schrenk, and son, Mark Rentz; his son-in-law, Jeb Schrenk, and daughter-in-law, Melinda Rentz; six grandchildren, Landon, Jalyn, Lucy, Karson, Chase, and Maggie; his brother-in-law, Jerry Lowery, with whom he was good friends; and several other family members. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Judith Rentz Lowery.

A memorial service will be held at Bainbridge First Methodist Church, 300 W Shotwell Street, on Saturday, June 13, at 10 a.m., with a visitation immediately following. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the church (PO Box 541, Bainbridge, GA 39818) or a charity of your choice. For those driving to attend, Jim would want you to know that traffic has gotten awful.