James W Rivers

03/16/1921-03/28/2014

A wonderful, loving, hard working man went to Heaven. Jim began at age 6 picking berries with his family and never stopped working and providing until Mar 28, 2014. Born to Lewis and Amy Rivers in Estacada, Oregon, he grew up with 1 brother and 7 sisters. After discharge from the US Coast Guard, he married his first wife Geraldine and had 4 children, James, Diane, Billy Jean and Mark. In 1961 Jim married Joan Rivers (Purdy) and had 5 children; Kim, Katrina, Kelly, Kris (deceased) and Kaelyn. Together they loved and cared for many foster children over the course of their 52 years of marriage. His generous loving spirit will be carried on by those children.

He worked thru the ranks over the course of 70 years to his final position as a Construction Superintendent and was well respected for his expertise on many multimillion dollar projects in not only Oregon, but Washington, Idaho and Alaska as well. Some projects he accomplished in his career: Shriner’s Hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital, Emanuel Hospital, U of O Research Hospital, Bess Kaiser Hospital, as well as Tektronix, Washington Corrections Expansion, Pierce Co. Corrections center and many more major projects in the Pacific Northwest.

Jim was not only about work. He loved hunting, fishing, rock hounding, jewelry making and gardening. Even when he became unable to physically hunt, he enjoyed camp cooking and fellowship with friends. He grew the best corn and cucumbers, loved his bull George and was a wealth of knowledge about everything. Jim will be missed by family and friends greatly. He was a solid rock as well as a constant comfort for all. He is survived by his wife Joan, two sisters, 8 children, 17 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. We know he is in heaven building an addition to Gods house in preparation for our arrival… with a bigger kitchen this time! Love and miss you dad.

Memorial services will be at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home on Friday, April 4th, 2014 at 3pm.