James Leland Gale

James Leland Gale passed away July 17, 2024 at the age of 93, although when asked, he told everyone he was 108. Born on January 10, 1931 in San Leandro, Ca. to Leland and Marian (O’Connell) Gale. Jim is preceded in death by his wife, our beloved Mother Anita in 2007, his eldest son Stephen in 2022 and his German Shorthair Pointers Pup, Pup & Pup.

Jim and Anita were high school sweethearts at St. Elizabeths in Oakland. He always bragged that our Mom was the prettiest and smartest girl in the school. We never did figure out how he charmed her into marrying him. Together they raised nine children. Their first child, Stephen, was born on Jim’s 19th birthday followed by Kathleen, Paul, James, Jeanie, Peter, David, John & Timothy. Growing up with 3 sisters and being the only boy, Jim was spoiled by his Mother. He then was passed on to our Mother who was forced to spoil him by default. After Anita passed away he assumed the trend would continue with his 9 children. He was a challenge but we all learned to compromise (mostly us kids).

Upon graduating high school Jim took over his Father’s established stucco business in Oakland Ca. As his family grew we moved inland to the rural areas of the SF bay area to Walnut Creek & Alamo in the late 1950’s. There he worked for Physics International and Aerojet-General Nucleonics. When Aerojet closed their San Ramon facility in the early 1970’s, still having a large family to support, Jim landed a job as Risk Manager for Kings County and moved the family down to Hanford Ca in 1974. We lived in a temporary tract house while he had his final home built outside of town in the “country” on a 3 ½ acre lot. When he purchased the property it was nothing but tumbleweeds and dust. He had a swimming pool put in which kind of made up for him moving us down to the valley. It was tough for the younger siblings, as well as our Mother, to make the change from Alamo to Hanford but they managed. Our Father had grown to love the community of Hanford. He appreciated the honest, hardworking farmers, ranchers and good people he came to know. He enjoyed a good life down in the San Joaquin Valley for 50 years.

Jim had a unique personality. A half dozen or so of his friends might speak fondly of him - if pressed. Jim was well known for his sense of humor, sarcasm and lack of patience. He was always up for a good discussion about politics and was not known to hold back his opinion. While a necessity in his youth growing up during the depression, he carried on his knack of being frugal his entire life. Unfortunately, he handed these special qualities down to his children.

Jim was an adventurer at heart and had great enthusiasm for nature. He was energetic, rarely sat still and was always busy working outside, riding his ATV, driving his tractor or walking his dog out in the orchard. Being close to the mountains and rural areas of the valley, Jim continued to enjoy his hobbies of backpacking, hunting, snowshoeing, fishing and camping. He also loved to travel, sponsoring many trips overseas with his chosen/appointed children to England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand as well as Mexico. For me, these trips were a perfect opportunity for payback to him from when we were kids. He loved to torture and tease us from, driving too close to cliffs, burying us in the sand or bringing dead rattlesnakes into our campsite to making us listen to talk radio and elevator music during to drive. You know what they say about paybacks. We all appreciated the feeling of finally giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Jim’s feistiness stayed with him to the end of his life. As his caregivers, his children were put to the ultimate test. Suffering from Dementia and Alzheimers, Jim finally gave up the battle. He was a devout Catholic and raised us the same. He was looking forward to seeing our Mom when he got to heaven. I told him, that is if she doesn’t hide behind a cloud when she hears rumors he may be coming. We all loved our Father in spite of his ways and he will be sorely missed.