Life Achievement Award
This was printed in The Winchester, Indiana Gazette today
WINCHESTER’S GOLDEN GRADUATES
JIM EMMONS—FROM CLASSMATE TO CLASS ACT!
Jim Emmons was never satisfied with being average. When his family moved in 1955 from Columbus OH to Randolph County, Jim immediately liked living in Indiana. He started school at White River, then came into Winchester with the consolidation of 1959. He really liked all the kids and teachers, especially since he had moved from a city of 237,000 people to a small town like Winchester. But he didn’t understand why the kids beyond the city limits were called “soddies” and the kids in town, “townies.” He’d never been exposed to such provincial thinking. But neither had he been exposed to such positive encouragement from the school and community.
At White River High School, Jim immediately sensed a “go-for-it attitude” from everyone—educators and business people alike. He marveled at how the business community supported the schools. He also loved how his teachers and high school principal took a personal interest in him. Jim, who was a pretty active “live wire,” had quite the experience that first year.
Indiana educational practice at the time allowed adults to attend school as regular students. Three adult ladies as well as Jim’s mother applied as seniors to the school, agreeing to not cause any commotion or disruption to normal student activity. Jim’s mother had just remarried, causing her to have a different last name than Jim, and they had agreed to never interact at school. Jim in no way resembles his mother, so he felt they could coexist without his new friends finding out—until one day. Jim was walking down the hall following another student who was behind Jim’s mother. That student made a most inappropriate comment about her and Jim dropped his books and started stuffing him into a tall trash can, “all the while calling him everything but a milk cow!” In an instant Mr. Cecil Moncrief, the principal, had Jim by the scruff of the neck, hauling him into the office. Jim remembers thinking, “I was graveyard dead when my new step-dad would find out.” He was paralyzed with fear, broke down, burst into tears. He explained to Mr. Moncrief the charade, his conduct, and how his step-dad would react, and he very calmly said to Jim, “Can I trust you to not do this again?” Jim responded, “Yes, sir!” and that was his first dose of how adults gently ground “live wires” in Indiana.
Jim learned a great deal of “book knowledge” in White River and Driver High Schools as well as essential tools of life: trust, integrity, inspiration. Now 56 years out of high school, Jim reflects on his most influential teachers. From Mr. Tom Arnold, chemistry and physics teacher, he learned to look at things analytically. How do you put them together? What makes them work? Mr. George Addison, the drafting teacher taught him to draw blue prints, and the importance of line thickness to a machinist. Mr. Bob Farlow taught Jim to see with his heart as well as his eyes. Mr. Joseph Casey both challenged and inspired Jim with his lecture on the Three D’s: Drive + Desire + Determination = Success. All of these, Jim carried into his adult life, and they became the keys to his incredible success in the world of Dental Technology.
Having graduated with the Driver High School Class of 1961, Jim left the area to attend the Elkhart University dental technician program. By 1966, he established J.D. Emmons Ceramic Studio, Inc., in Dayton OH, which he expanded over the next 14 years by buying out three other dental labs and employing 32 people to make dentures and other dental apparatuses. But that wasn’t enough. Jim was seeing needs within his trade that had no solutions. He began to “seek and understand,” as taught to him by his high school chemistry/physics teacher, Mr. Arnold.
In 1969 he perfected the oxide/compression method of bonded ceramic to metal dental restorations, which he published in a trade journal resulting in changing the procedure for dentistry worldwide. This process, known as the Emmons Attachment, reduced porcelain to metal dental crown failures by 50%.
Feeling the need for more education, Jim continued studying and researching at Ohio State University and also the University of Dayton Research Institute. By 1984 he received his first patent on the Emmons Attachment and Jim was certified in ceramics by the National Board of Certification. In 1990, he served on the Board of Governors of the International Society of Dental Ceramics. He became an international consultant and qualified for a National Board of Certification Fellowship in 1994
In 1993 and 6 patents later, Jim started working on digital tooth shade analysis. The revolutionary process that he has developed enables a dentist anywhere in the world to use a smart phone to make a digital photograph of a tooth, run it through Jim’s software (3 minutes) on his website, Spectrafire.com, and receive a printable prescription. The prescription can then be sent to a dental laboratory anywhere in the world and because there is no guesswork on the part of the technicians, receive a dental restoration that is 97% color accurate. This work is being presented worldwide in 2017. Desire + Drive + Determination = Success! Mr. Casey would be proud of this 24-year research project and latest patented procedure.
Jim Emmons is the developer of products such as the Spectrafire Air Brush System, Wet Palette Humidors, ceramic and porcelain ovens, Life Essence Porcelain Systems, Biolume’ 24k Gold Bonder, Spectrafire Hydro-Vac Plus and Spectrafire Golden Proportion System. Currently Jim is completing the patent process on an aerosol glazing compound, which may result in his biggest dental breakthrough to date. He is a published author, has a training studio in Waco, TX, where he oversees the Spectrafire product line development and distribution. He also presents National Board of Certification approved courses on cosmetic and digital ceramics worldwide. Jim is the owner of JSE Dental Mfg., LLC, Woodway, TX, as well as Spectrafire Technologies of Woodway, TX. He is a dental technician who became a dental product developer, is a Fellow of the National Board for Certification (1 out of 10 in the world), and has been awarded “#1 Texas state advanced dental ceramic technician, writer and entrepreneur.” His work has literally affected every person worldwide who has ceramic dental crowns or bridges.
Jim’s words to our current students: “I hope that the youth in Winchester grasp the significance of where they are and where they can go. Even though it is a small town in rural Indiana, be aware that many have flourished in this ‘incubator of success’ called Winchester, Indiana, and have made world-impacting changes and contributions in multiple areas. David and Goliath come to mind. You don’t have to be big or have great numbers, just be prepared, show up and get after it! It sounds so simple, doesn’t it! When you look at me, you see a man that has been down a lot of life’s roads and not much of it was paved till I got there. Now it’s your turn. Go out and make a positive difference!” Jim Emmons is a Winchester Golden Graduate who has gone from classmate to class act!
The Winchester Alumni Assoc. Is featuring Graduates from Winchester High School In Winchester Indiana ,who have excelled in chosen professions -