James French Green

James French Green finished his final race - always a champion - on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, in the company of family. `Jim’ was born to Ferne Belle (Mowrer) Green and Forrest Dewy`Dude’ Green at home in McPherson, Kansas on November 16, 1931, the youngest of 8 children. Jim and his family moved around quite frequently as his father was an oil driller. He spent his early years in the Texas panhandle living in Skellytown, White Deer and Pampa where he encountered many adventures with his siblings and family friends the Wingets. As he would recall, everyone was poor but his dad always had work, so they never went hungry during the Great Depression. The kids had great times exploring the wide-open spaces with their trusted dog Pal. In 1942, the oil fields were closed at the start of the war. The Greens and two other close family friends - the Wingets and McCreary’s - caravaned up to Washington State for work in the defense industry at Lake Washington Shipyard in Kirkland. The family eventually found a small farm off of 148th in Bellevue and settled there. Jim always commented how he had never seen so many trees in his life.

Jim settled in well to his new home and made new and lifelong friends Clinton Farrell and Ronny Frey picking blueberries at Overlake Blueberry Farm. He attended Bellevue High School (although it’s name varied from Overlake to Bellevue) where he participated in Honor Society, Future Farmers of America (he loved raising his prize pig 8 Ball), and a variety of sports: boxing, football, basketball, golf and eventually track. He often ran all the way to school just for exercise. In high school, he also met his best friend George Feightner. A friend, Duane Johnson, talked Jim into turning out for track in his senior year. He ended up winning the state half-mile title.

Jim spent the summer - before heading off to college on a track scholarship to Eastern Washington University - drilling for natural gas in Kansas with his father. They worked 7 - 12s and drilled twice as many holes in a shift as the other crew. His dad was one of the best in the business and was quite sought after. The work was challenging and brutal and he gained a deep respect for the work his father did. In the fall, he worked for Johnny Winget who had a crew, who was working to demo and relocate houses in preparation for the building of the Grand Coulee Dam.

After a few semesters, Jim decided he’d rather be out there making good money than being a poor college student, so he left Eastern. He also had a hernia which needed surgery that he couldn’t afford. It acted up when he ran and made training hard. He left to make his way in the world working various jobs: carpentry, landscaping, a short stint on the railroad, and logging in Oregon. At one point, he was scouted by a trainer who thought he could be a pro boxer. He boxed some matches at the Puyallup Fair which he won in 2 matches with a TKO.

He met his wife Deanna on a double date. She was his friend's date. Jim talked him into switching and the rest they say is history. They wed in 1955, Deanna was 17 and Jim 23. Together they had ten children; four boys and six girls. They raised their family in many areas of Washington including Custer, Hazelwood and May Creek. Deanna’s parents, Glenn and Vivian Kassner, gifted them property near their home in Hazelwood, where Jim built a house.

No matter what Jim worked at, he always maintained that he was the “best athlete available”. Humility wasn’t one of his traits. He was very confident in himself, a trait he said his mother Ferne helped instill. Looking at his photographs of him as a young boy, he seemed to just be made that way. Lots of attitude. Jim was also one for instilling in his children: the value of one’s word; to be an independent thinker; and to not offer your opinion but facts”‘put your money where your mouth is” was frequently heard as well as “money talks, bullsh*t walks”.

Jim enjoyed working with his hands and working outside. He was a union carpenter for the majority of his working career. He worked on many large construction jobs, one of which was for the Austin Company, who had a contract to construct the Boeing buildings in downtown Renton. It satisfied Jim to sit on the bench at Gene Coulon Park and be able to admire his work looking across the lake. “We built that, you know,” he would mention.

One of Jim’s favorite pastimes was betting on the ponies. Since he was an athlete in his youth and in his spirit, he admired the athleticism of the horse. He would head down to the fence at Longacres before a race to watch the horses come out. He could tell by the way the horse moved and how they acted if they were in the race to win. Yes, sometimes he was wrong, but a lot of times, he was right. He could always pick a winner. He also spent a lot of time studying the racing form and was a great handicapper.

Jim was always ready for anything with his kids. He loved the outdoors and a road trip. He would take them on camping and fishing excursions to Potholes Reservoir, Fish Lake, and sometimes down a hair-raising narrow forest road just to see where it went. When it really snowed, he was just as eager as his kids to wax up a sled and head belly first down the long hill. Even in sideways sleet on the coast, Jim was determined to catch his limit of razor clams and maybe a few extra for good measure. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, razor and geoduck clamming, mushroom hunting, and wild blackberry picking.

During his final days, near the end of his run, Jim enjoyed a lot of visits from family and friends, listening to his favorites: Tennessee Ernie Tubb, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Bob Wills the Texas Playboys, and many more. Jim was preceded in death by his beloved sons: John, James (Jr), and Douglas Green; and, treasured siblings; Wayne, Mary Kay (Kate) Sanford, Eileen Harrington, Forrest (Nick), Darrel (Joe), Patricia Venema, and baby Dee (Verle). He is survived by: his wife Deanna; children Curtis Green (Leslie Morgan); Kate Welch (Bill Kemp), Maureen Green (Gene Kraemer), Beth Lafontaine (Gib); Jennifer Green (Robert Kleinpaste); Victoria Green, and Tammara Green; nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren and many loving nieces, nephews and their families.

As children, while riding with Jim in the car on road trips, he would point out a road and exclaim, “That road goes to Texas”. Dad, you are free to wander where the bluebonnets grow, in the blue sunshine of the big Texas sky. May God bless you, and we’ll see you at the races.