James C. Perkins, known as Jim or Jimbo by friends and family was called to Heaven on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was welcomed with open arms by his mother, father and Jesus.
Jim was born on Sept. 2nd, 1943, the only son of Floyd and Evelyn Perkins. He was raised in the Yakima Valley, where he graduated from A.C. Davis High School in 1961. It was there that he met and married the mother of his children, Sheila Harris, in 1963. During those years, Jim and Sheila welcomed and raised three daughters, Jami Lynn, Carrie Anne, and Jodi Kristin.
During this time Jim began his 40 year career with the U.S. Postal Service, where he started out working on the mailroom floor, and then worked his way up to timekeeper and finally became Supervisor of Employee Relations at the Yakima Post Office. He very much enjoyed the challenges and responsibilities of being Supervisor of Employee Relations until his retirement in 2003.
Fortunately, Jim and Sheila were better friends than spouses and decided to divorce amicably in 1992 after 29 years of marriage. While in the last few years before retirement, he met and fell in love with Sandra Carr McCall (the result of a blind date). It was apparent that they completed each other and got married in June 1999. Now that Jim was happily married, and having retired in 2003, he felt he could still do so much more to help others, that he began his volunteer work, putting in more hours than he had while working. He first began delivering meals to the elderly with the Meals on Wheels Program, and while doing this he began putting in many hours at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, also as an Ombudsman for the Summitview Care Center and as a S.H.I.B.A. volunteer. As the S.H.I.B.A. volunteer, he received the Graham Tollefson Award for his outstanding achievements within that organization.
He enjoyed his volunteer work so much that he continued to volunteer as much as he could, until his health would no longer allow him to.
Jim is survived by his wife of 13 years, Sandy and their kitty cat, Gertie; his first wife, Sheila Reynolds; three daughters, Jami Lynn Olson and husband Kenny, Carrie Anne Harris and husband Tom, and Jodi Kristin Skinner and husband Jory all of Yakima; grandson, Jacob James and Casey Dean; granddaughter, Angelica Grace also all of Yakima; two step-sons, Shane McCall and wife Jenna of Baltimore, Maryland, and Mattheu McCall of Charleston, S.C.; sisters, Bonnie Caron of Sumner, WA and Alice Perkins; and numerous other relatives. He was preceded in death by his father Floyd Perkins in 1958, his beloved mother Evelyn in 1986, and numerous half siblings. Sandy is comforted by the fact that their cat George was also there to greet Jim in Heaven.
Viewing will be from 4 – 7:00 pm Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 at Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home. Graveside services will be 11:00 am Friday, Nov. 2nd at Terrace Heights Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Cottage in The Meadow. Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.
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