James Marvin Vredenburg

On October 24, 2023, James Marvin Vredenburg, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia, passed peacefully into Heaven. He was born on Thursday, March 10, 1938, in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Frances Jane (nee Reardon) and Donald Arthur Vredenburg. Jim, as he was called by his family, grew up in Leavenworth, attending St. Joseph’s Catholic School and Immaculata Catholic High School through the 10th grade. He graduated from Leavenworth High School in 1956. After working for a year after graduation, Jim enrolled at Kansas State University to pursue a degree in civil engineering. He graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from Kansas State in 1961.

In the fall of his freshman year at college, his cousin set him up on a blind date to a college football game in Columbia, Missouri, where he met the love of his life, Bonnie (nee Smith). They married on June 4,1960. They had four children, Teresa, Karen, Joann, and James (Jimmy).

After graduating from college, Jim accepted a job with Sinclair Oil in Independence, Kansas. Next, he took his family to Page, Arizona, and worked for the Bureau of Reclamation on the Glenn Canyon Dam. The family’s next stop was Denver, Colorado, where Jim joined the Army Corps of Engineers. From Denver, the Corps took the family back to Kansas, Illinois, and Kansas again. In 1973, he enrolled in the MS in Civil Engineering program at the University of Missouri at Rolla. He finished his degree in the spring of 1974, and the family moved back to Kansas. In late 1974, Jim was offered a job as the Resident Engineer in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany. This was his favorite and most memorable job. He stayed in this position for 3-1/2 years. Upon returning to the United States, Jim briefly settled his family in Louisiana, but a job opened in the Dallas offices of the Army Corps of Engineers. So, the family packed their bags and moved to Arlington, Texas. Jim held several positions in the Dallas office, but in 1985, with an empty nest, Jim and Bonnie headed for the Washington, D.C. area and settled in Virginia. In 1994, Jim retired from the Army Corps of Engineers, with over 32 years of Federal service. Jim and Bonnie headed back to Texas and settled in Arlington to be near their children and grandchildren, where he continued to work at various jobs until 2015.

Jim was a very devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He loved his children and taught them to be honest and upright citizens. He loved his grandchildren and loved to be with them. He taught them life lessons, including loving everyone. He especially liked to talk to them about their interests.

Jim was a devout Catholic. He grew up in the Catholic Church, first serving as an altar server and then as a lay minister and eucharistic minister. He was a member of the Men’s Club at St. Vincent de Paul’s Catholic Church. He was a member of the CERA club and served as its treasurer. He and Bonnie also were active in the St. Vincent de Paul’s Society. He found great joy in going to Mass every Sunday.

Jim is preceded in death by his loving wife, Bonnie, his brothers, Michael Byrd and Donald Vredenburg, his mother, Frances J. Byrd, his stepfather, Jewel E. Byrd, his father, Donald Vredenburg, and his stepmother, Rose Vredenburg. He is survived by his daughters, Teresa DeRudder (Dave), Karen Medina (John), Joann Johnson (Duane), his son, James Vredenburg (Tiffany), his grandchildren, Alice Isabelle (Paula), Chad Vredenburg (Jessica), Casey Johnson, Cody DeRudder (Camille), Taylor DeRudder, and Madison Medina, his sisters Carol Conner, Mary Liston, Katie Palmer, and Rose Marie Theel, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society or the Michael J. Fox Foundation.