James Eugene Walters, 76, of Stevensville passed unexpectedly doing what he loved at home working in his shop on Thursday, November 30, 2023. He was born April 26th, 1947 in what they called a stork retreat in Gridley, California by midwives to Juanita Mignnone Biles and Eugene William Walters.
Jim was raised in Gridley, California and graduated from Gridley High School in 1965. After high school he joined the Army National Guard and served for 6 years. In that time he lived in Provo, UT with his sister Sherry and brother-in-law Larry Rasmussen for a couple of years. While there he attended college in Provo, UT for a semester while working at a Chevy Dealership. After Utah, Jim went to work with a friend at Eastern Oregon Pine in Lakeview, Oregon for a couple of years. There he piled lumber off of an edge sorter. He said he went through 16 partners the first year because it was hard work and some didn’t make it a week.
Jim moved back to Gridley and married his first wife Eileen in 1973. From his first marriage, Jim had his first daughter, Shawnee (Orange), in 1974. His second born, a son, William James Walters, born July 30th, 1976. William (Billy) passed away at (5) months old. His third child, Jody (Ross), a daughter, was born in 1978.
Jim continued to work in saw mills in California. He was a hard worker who enjoyed hard work with his hands. In 1983, he was set up on a blind date with the love of his life, Marsha (Krecklow), which we later learned wasn’t such a “blind” date after all because someone gave dad a picture of his date a couple of weeks before. Marsha had two daughters, Danelle (Springer), age 6 and Sarah (Lucas), age 3. He instantly fell for them all right away and together they began raising all 4 girls, together as one family.
Jim and Marsha got married in a simple ceremony in Lake Tahoe, California on March 30th, 1985. They quickly welcomed their first daughter, Jamie (Nobi), into this world. As they continued to blend their lives together, five years later they welcomed their 6th and final baby girl Sherry (Blaisdell), in 1990.
One year later in August of 1991, Jim and Marsha decided to move the family out of California in hopes of a finding the perfect environment to raise their girls. Dad drove from California to Montana looking for their forever home. He ended up in the Bitterroot Valley and began knocking on ranchers’ doors looking for work as a ranch hand. He worked for the Bitterroot Springs Ranch until in 1993, when he started working for the Stevensville School District. He worked in maintenance at the schools until he retired in April in 2009. During his retired years, he and Marsha enjoyed each other’s company camping and hunting in the mountains of Montana. Their favorite places to camp were in the mountains of the West Fork. He also spent many, many hours in his shop building, creating, and fixing anything that he could. He enjoyed fishing, tending his yard and garden and a renewed love for chickens. He is survived by his wife, Marsha Walters; his 6 daughters, Shawnee (Bob) Orange; Danelle Springer; Jody (Jimmy) Ross; Sarah (Eric) Lucas; Jamie (Justin) Nobi; Sherry (Jon) Blaisdell; as well as son-in-law David Spiers. He is survived by 16 1/2 adoring grandkids named Austin, Mason, Lexie, Zoey, Emilee, Zaden, Luke, Ethan, Addison, Ella, Zed, Kyler, Josef, Lillian, Hadley and Paisley. He is also survived by his sister, Sherry (Larry) Rasmussen and his brother Ron (Lani) Walters along with many nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents Juanita Biles and Eugene Walters and son William Walters along with many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Stevensville, MT on Thursday, December 7th at 2pm.
For those interested in honoring Jim, the family suggests taking a drive in the mountains with the ones you love. Condolences and memories may be shared with the family at www.whitesittfuneralhome.com.