James Scenna

With a heavy heart, we regret to inform you that on Friday, June 11, 2021, James “Jimmy” Edward Scenna, passed away at the age of 47. Jimmy was born on 14 January 1974 to James and Linda Scenna in Milford, CT. The early years were spent with Missy, Tommy, and the cousins, riding bikes all over Milford, going to Sloppy Joes game center, and playing down at the beach playground sliding down the sea wall, this is where Jimmy caught a sand shark. When not at the water or all over town, Jimmy built makeshift floats to go through the swamp areas collecting bottles to cash in for penny candy and colas. Jimmy also helped father dig a cellar amongst other projects and was teammates with his sister Melissa helping lead the Rochester little league baseball team to winning 2 championships. Jimmy moved to Florida a week before his 10th birthday, a major change of scenery. He acclimated well picking up where he left off in CT, exploring the town and finding all the best fishing spots in the neighborhood and always making sure that Ed’s Tackle Shop and Costa’s deli were a must first stop. Growing up in an aeronautical neighborhood, Jimmy and his siblings were able to get close-up to the planes and even sit in one or two at times. After the first year in Florida, Jimmy started spending a good part of his time over the summers assisting his father on different jobsites including Homosassa Elementary, The Marine Science Station, and Badcock’s in Inverness to name a few. When not on jobsites Jimmy helped father in his paper business making pads and other stationary products. Moreover, Jimmy assisted in running papers at night and shortly after he had his license, he used dad’s Nissan to run the Tampa Tribune. One night running papers, he lost the rear end of the Nissan and managed to get it fixed before father got back into town (….we told him about it later). Then Jimmy landed a job at The Boat House, then went to work at Crackers on and off for several years where he would take breaks to work other gigs, once at Proline boats for a handful of years before moving to Clearwater to run cable. After running cable, Jimmy went to manage Scooters then work at Colony Stone while also running papers for the Chronicle. Jimmy decided he wanted to become an electrician and went on to work for Gaudette Electric. After 4 years at Gaudette, Jimmy realized he was close to the cut off age to enlist and decided it was time to serve. Joining the Navy as a helicopter mechanic, he would go on to do two overseas deployments where he helped aid the humanitarian efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and then in the capturing of Somali Pirates and holding them onboard his ship. After the Navy, Jimmy came back to Florida where he was a Partner in Hobbs End thrift store. After losing his father, Jimmy took some to himself, reflected and pondered his next adventure. This led to SMG where he earned his Class A CDL license and was hired on with SMG. After running for SMG and loving it, the open road kept calling him, to the point he had to answer. He finished his time at SMG and signed on with Swift. While working at Swift, he purchased his truck and become an Owner Operator. In Jimmy’s short 47 years, he lived a full life, from as a child building snow forts, underground forts, tree forts, and forts in swamps, (some of these forts were almost as nice as a house) to traveling the United States and throughout Europe. You might knock Jimmy down, but you were not knocking Jimmy out, (just ask the guy at Frogs). There was practically nothing he could not do, Jimmy could rebuild your engine, change out your electric service, build you a house from the ground up, or manage a kitchen. He stepped foot in all 48 continental states and spent time in Europe. Jimmy was big on family and friends impacting many lives but would not hesitate to call it like it was if you were in the wrong. There was not a thing he would not do and if he had the means to help, he would help as long as you did it his way, regardless the cost to himself. He lived how he was raised, with respect, integrity, and compassion.