Jim Gardner was born on 7/7/37 in Colfax, Washington. Shortly after, his family moved to Portland where he immediately made life-long friends and fell in love with the state. Although he wasn't born in Oregon, he was an Oregonian through and through. He had many opportunities to leave in order to advance his career, but he never did.

If his first great love was Oregon, his second was his family - specifically his wife Vina. They married in 1956, and their love affair is a rare and beautiful story. They had 4 children, Mike, Eric, Susan and Joe. He cherished them above all else. His heart was broken when his daughter Susan passed away long before her time, but Jim Gardner was not a man who would let adversity overcome him. One of his salient features was the ability to bounce back and solve problems.

Speaking of problem solving, his third great love was work. He loved being an engineer. What he loved about it was the problem solving, and the camaraderie. He loved his co-workers. Most of his friends were either family or co-workers.

He was proud of the work he did. The following is a brief rundown:

His career began at Precision Castparts in 1957 when it was a small start-up. Between 1957 and 1966 he held positions in inspection and development engineering. He left PCC in 1967 and helped start REM Metals, a titanium investment casting company where he held positions of Quality and Engineering Manager. From 1974 to 1980, he returned to Precision Castparts and held positions of Special Projects Engineer, Area Manager and Manufacturing Superintendent. In 1980 he purchased part of PED Manufacturing, a small investment casting company, manufacturing commercial and forest products castings. From 1980 to 1999, as Vice President and Technical Director he and his two partners developed the company into one of the industry leaders in high specification pump components and medical implant castings (his family used hip implants as nut crackers and tent stakes). They sold the company in 1999 and he retired until 2005 when he started a consulting business. He traveled the world as a consultant and advanced his profession on a global scale. He became a widely respected engineer without a degree, something that is impossible today. Until recently, he actively participated in engineering seminars and conferences, and wrote scholarly papers that are widely read in his industry.

Despite failing health, he worked up until about two and a half months before he passed away. He is beloved by all who met him as a generous, hardworking, honest, loving and very intelligent man. He would not be happy to be described this way because, despite that fact that he was very confident, he was also humble. There is one one moment in his life that can best describes his character.

One day he gathered his four kids and rushed them to a park in Portland to see Louis Armstrong (his favorite musician) perform. The kids were small so they couldn't see over the standing room only crowd. Throughout the concert, he lifted each one of his kids, one by one, on his shoulders so they could see Louis play. He lifted kids for an hour without a break. When the concert was over, Eric asked him why he went through all that rigamarole. He said that he wanted his kids to be able to say that they saw Louis Armstrong live.

Everyone he met has a similar Jim Gardner story, and we are forever bonded by the fact that we all saw Jim Gardner live.

He died 8/9/22 in Happy Valley, Oregon.

Please consider making a donation to one of the following charities in James' memory.
The Blooming Boutique https://www.bloominboutique.org/
or Youth Villages Oregon https://youthvillages.org/