James Granger Aplin passed away the evening of January 25, 2022. He was 76 years old and had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for several years. Known as Jim, he was an exceptional husband, father, stepfather, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, teacher and artist.
Jim was intentional in word and deed. He often wrote mission statements for himself that stated his personal and professional goals, and he would go over them with his wife, Jill. An undated one was recently found in his desk. In it he writes of his intention “to participate in my own small way in humanity’s evolution – away from power struggles and materialism, and toward creativity, compassion and understanding.” There is no doubt that he was successful in this particular mission.
Professionally, Jim was an acclaimed portrait artist. His medium was oil, an ancient and demanding art form. He set his sights on portraiture in the mid 1980s, after a 10-year career as a freelance illustrator, advertising art director and professor. He would rise at 4 a.m. every morning to practice and study portraiture before going to his day job. Soon he was represented by Portraits South and by Portraits Inc and had a long list of clients. Over the years his portraits were featured in American Artist and International Artist magazine; his paintings were exhibited in New York, Birmingham, Charlotte and Chattanooga; his work now belongs to private collections across the United States and in England. By 2016, when his declining health forced him to retire, there was a years-long waiting list for one of his commissions.
If Jim were here, he would not enjoy hearing his accomplishments listed like this. He was endlessly modest and self-effacing. Jim would rather laugh about the time he and some of his high school buddies decided to make a raft and float down the Tennessee River to New Orleans. (They made it as far as the Olgiati Bridge before the raft began to sink.) His brother Jock remembers Jim often taking the younger siblings canoeing and says Jim genuinely enjoyed his friends and family. “He has always been more interested in the people around him than himself,” Jock said.
Jim loved sweets and relished a (nearly) daily ritual of a coffee and a pastry in the afternoon. His two sons, Benjamin and Matthew, witnessed their father’s disciplined approach to his art as well as his kind and patient nature, always listening, leading by example, and never giving unsolicited advice. Jim encouraged his sons to work hard but enjoy life and their family and friends. Called Poppa by his grandchildren, Jim loved to sit on the floor with them, playing with trains or blowing bubbles. As he got older he made more time to paint en plein air, returning to the landscapes of his youth that had always inspired him.
Jim was born April 27, 1945, in Chattanooga, to Charles Sewall Aplin and Carol Granger Aplin. He was the second of five children. His father owned a gas station, a car repair business and several car washes in East Ridge. His mother was a homemaker and an accomplished musician. Jim loved sketching and being outdoors as a kid. Always focused and hardworking, Jim graduated from McCallie School in 1963 at the top of his class. He went on to the University of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead scholar and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in history.
For a while Jim considered joining the seminary. Instead he chose art and went to the University of Georgia for a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1976 he moved to New York City with his first wife, (the late) Elizabeth McDonald Aplin, who was also an artist and a Chattanooga native. Jim received a grant from the Greenshields Foundation to study at the Arts Students League of New York with Robert Beverly Hale, a renowned author and instructor of artistic anatomy. His illustrations appeared in the Smithsonian, Fortune and other national publications. News outlets and book publishers commissioned his work.
In 1983 the couple returned to Chattanooga. The marriage did not last but it produced their two beloved sons, Ben and Matt.
In August 1994, Jim was introduced to Jill Sims Morgan at a dinner party. Born and raised in Quebec, Jill was a healthcare administrator and a gourmet cook. She had two sons of her own from a previous marriage. They married nine months later. Jim strove “to be good to her and for her” as he once wrote; Jill joked that the way to his heart was through his stomach, so that was pretty easy for her. Before Jim received his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, they had 27 years together, which Jill said “was not nearly long enough.”
Men like Jim do not come around very often. He was disciplined and serious, gentle and kind all at the same time. To his family, friends and students, he leaves behind an abiding imprint, one that reminds us of the creativity, compassion and understanding that he embodied in his own, small – and yet to us, very big – way.
Jim is survived by his wife, Jill; son, Benjamin (Beth) of Nashville; son, Matthew (Natalie) of Chattanooga; stepson, Andrew Morgan of Napier, New Zealand; stepson, Jeff Morgan of Atlanta; grandchildren, Susannah and James Aplin of Nashville; and granddaughter, Ella Aplin of Chattanooga.
He is also survived by his sister, Joanne (Phil) Terry of Chattanooga; brothers, Charles Aplin of Seattle, WA; Jock (Jan) Aplin of Hendersonville, NC; and Steven Aplin (Beverly) of Rock Spring, Ga.; and seven nieces and nephews.
The staff at Ascension Valley Living went to extraordinary lengths to care for Jim these past two years. We are so thankful for their love, expertise, endurance and support.
In remembrance of Jim’s life, we ask that any charitable donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 7625 Hamilton Park Drive, Suite 6, Chattanooga, TN 37421. A memorial service to honor him will be held at a later date.