James L. "Jim" Long

James L. “Jim” Long, 86, of Mechanicsburg, PA, passed away on Saturday, August 3, 2024. He was the son of the late Lawrence and Helen (Heffelfinger) Long, born on June 9, 1938, in Lynnville, PA.

Jim graduated in 1956 from Catasauqua High School and went on to Lehigh University and then the University of Iowa, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s in hydraulic engineering, respectively. He spent a long career with Gannett Fleming, Camp Hill, retiring in 2000 as the head of the Water Resources Division and a member of the board of directors. His career was dedicated to public water systems and quality, working hand-in-hand with local and state governments to design and construct water treatment and distribution systems. He spent time outside the U.S. as well, helping developing parts of the world (South America and the Caribbean) improve their public water quality. He received several national awards for his service. He was dedicated to his profession and established a scholarship at Lehigh for students studying environmental engineering.

Jim developed a love of model trains early in life watching his father put them up around the tree each Christmas. In his early teen years, he built a model train encircling his attic bedroom. He and Hazel took many vacations by train crossing the US, Canada, and Europe. Throughout his life, he has always designed and built sophisticated model train layouts. In retirement, he filled his entire basement with an award-winning layout that included scale mountains, rivers, bridges, tunnels, lumber mills, coal mines, and towns named after his grandchildren. Over the last decade-plus, he also volunteered with the Bethany Village train club, helping with many train and scenery displays that dot the Bethany campus. 

Jim played basketball and trumpet in the band in high school and won numerous awards for academic achievement. He also loved nature, camping, and sailing. He had a routine dialed in with his sons to load the van, and then set up and tear down camp like a well-oiled machine. He loved the national parks and camping in the most remote campsite he could find. 

In his later years, Jim and Hazel spent time at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, which hosted family gatherings, tubing behind the ski boat, swimming in the cove, and many late-night family board game sessions. The house at Smith Mountain Lake also gave Jim another outlet for his passion for landscape design and gardening. When they sold the home there, Jim was getting it ready for the new owner and one of his neighbors commented that he worked harder on a house and yard that was no longer his than most people do on their own home. That was Jim. 

Jim was an elder and volunteer at Camp Hill Presbyterian Church. He loved working with his hands and went on many mission trips with the church to Mission at the Eastward in Farmington, Maine, to do small construction projects to improve people’s living conditions. He also spent countless hours doing repairs and painting at Christ Lutheran Church in Allison Hill. 

Surviving Jim are his two sons, Mark of Seattle, WA, and Gregory (wife, Candice) of Belle Mead, NJ; as well as four beloved grandchildren, Lauren, Thomas, Claire, and Colin. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his loving wife of 63 years, Hazel (Haftel) Long; a son, Scott J. Long; and a sister, Linda Harrington.

A visitation will take place from 3PM until a Celebration of Life begins at 4PM on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at Parthemore Funeral Home & Cremation Services, New Cumberland.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to either: Camp Hill Presbyterian Church, 101 N. 23rd Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011, or to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, which would directly support his son's ride in honor of Jim, with the foundation ensuring that 100% of proceeds go towards cancer research.