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In memory of
James "Jim" Henry Kiersey
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Jim's obituary
Jim was a dreamer who always had plentiful ideas for inventions and funny stories. He was quite intelligent and graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland Oregon at age 16. He did not go on to college but he did join the Navy a few years later at 18 years of age. He loved camping and the outdoors though he didn't really fish or hunt. He loved camping in the summer or winter. In his 20's he did a lot of off-roading, even having a truck that was sponsored by a company.
He was an avid reader of history, science fiction, westerns, mystery, and drama.
Around 1962 or 1963 he met Carol Kiersey at Rooster Rock, the story goes that she was coming out of the river and her top fell, which happened to get his attention. He was very clear that up until that time he was all about - fast cars and fast women. But he always said once he got married that all changed. They had 5-7 years of a happy and cozy marriage until Carol's severe mental illness started to overrun their relationship. After this, there was a bitter divorce/custody battle. He knew that Carol wasn't going to be able to care for the kids, but the court decided to split the kids up putting his daughter with Carol, and his son with him. After about a year or so Jim ended up with both kids anyway after Carol had a nervous breakdown in Vancouver Washington and his daughter went into state care for a week. He wasn't able to just go pick her up because of the state lines.
Ever since that day he was a single father. Carol would come to live with him on and off to help with the kids but ultimately the mental illness made it impossible for her to fill the role of caring for the children.
During the late '70s to mid-80s, he ran 2 businesses at the same time as well as being a single father. His businesses were a used tool store called "The Hawk Shop" on SE 37th & Division, Portland, Oregon. And his Concrete company which changed names a few times- most notably, Kiersey Enterprises, "Have trowel, will travel"
In 1984 he made a bad investment and gave up his parent's home to his sister, he was humiliated he made such a bad decision. He then moved himself and his 2 children which he raised on his own to Colton, Oregon to a rental house on 10 acres. After 8 months there he moved to another house in Estacada, Oregon for 6 months.
In 1986 After a bad business deal of some kind, as well as the raging recession for the construction industry he decided to move him, and the 2 kids to Southern California. On the long drive there with a friend that drove along in a caravan of 4 vehicles, a series of unfortunate events unfolded where they settled in Northern California, specifically Woodland, California.
While in Woodland California the ex-boyfriend of his daughter trespassed onto their property while intoxicated on some type of drug and assaulted Jim. Jim's skull was fractured and he said he was never able to get fully back to normal after this, and always had a ringing sound in his ears.
In 1988 Jim and Bryan moved to Crescent city to work doing concrete through union work on the Pelican Bay prison. Heather moved there for a month in August 1988, and then one by one they each came back to Portland, Oregon.
At some point around 1990, he reunited with Carol as a roommate, but they eventually settled back into a married relationship. He had always felt responsible for her even though he had a hard time dealing with her mental illness.
In 1997 he was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer after a large growth appeared on his arm and was later removed. Jim had been smoking Pall Mall cigarettes since his teen years. In the last photo of him, he is seen holding several cartons of cigarettes even while he had cancer.
He went through nearly 2 years of chemotherapy until when his daughter went out of town he passed away.
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Created with love by
Heather Dominguez (Jim's daughter).
