Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist, renowned author and home brewing pioneer, James “Jim” Stevens left this earth on April 11, 2022. He died heroically saving his family from a ferocious mountain lion attack.
Before passing Jim forged a 74 year trail of laughter, ingenuity, compassion, and wisdom. He will be greatly missed by his newly wealthy wife of 52 years Debbie, a surprise daughter that he cherished, Julie and two other daughters that he tolerated, Jen & Megan.
The favorite child of the late Elaine & Charles Stevens he is survived by his much older brother Larry and his less handsome younger brother Rick. His older sister Linda has been looking down on him for 3 years now.
He is also survived by 4 grandchildren which he adored because they had yet to disappoint him. Jim’s demise will now allow them to emerge from his shadow.
Many cousins, nieces and nephews complete the list of those left to embellish his memory, Reba McIntyre & Joan Crawford that means you (he loved ancestry tracing).
Jim graduated the class of ‘68 without honors in Olney, Illinois. He loved camping and jumped at the chance to take a summer job working trail crew at Rocky Mountain National Park. If you’ve ever hiked a trail at RMNP you may have him to thank, if you’ve ever been injured on one please stop reading now. He returned to Illinois for school, graduating in 1970 from Wabash Valley College. He received his bachelor’s from Sangamon State University in 1977 (now University of Illinois) in Springfield.
After graduation he travelled the US and Canada on a motorcycle trip with his wife in search of the best place to live. Colorado was calling him, but not quite yet. They settled back in Olney, Illinois, where he built their house from the ground up and started his 35 year long career in city management. He continued to visit Colorado each summer, often bringing carloads of Coors back to his friends.
Over the years he was a city manager in various towns throughout Florida, Kansas, Illinois and ultimately Colorado. His devoted family followed him to each new city without a single complaint, ever. Not even once. Jim also opened a home brew supply store, U Bru It, and ran it out of his house for several years.
Jealous his daughters beat him to Colorado, in 2005 he made the move and became Nederland’s Town Administrator. He loved the mountain town lifestyle and traded in his suits for a reversible sign on his office door that read “Gone Fishing” & “Gone Skiing”. He retired in 2013 and started Black Sheep Brewing, Nederland’s first nano brewery. Although the brewery was too much when cancer hit, it made a nice addition to Ned’s greatest man cave.
Jim was a master of many crafts and he insisted on making everything himself. He claimed to have invented the skateboard as a young boy and continued to make things by hand from brewing equipment to cheese. Excluding only the requests from his wife that began with “Can you make this?”
He wrote books about home brewing and memoirs of his life. He loved hunting morel mushrooms, painting like Bob Ross and traveling the country. He achieved his goal of visiting all 50 states by taking his family on a road trip through Alaska and driving through New England with daughter Julie.
A die hard fan of the Brooklyn (LA) Dodgers and Fighting Illini basketball, he never missed a game. His most fond hobby was fly fishing, followed by fly tying, followed by telling fly fishing stories. A proud member of Trout Unlimited, he practiced catch and release so unfortunately there is no proof mounted on the walls.
His lifelong commitment to mischief is what will be greatly missed, as he taught us that the really good things in life are beyond the “Do Not Enter” signs. In the spirit of Jim’s famous Christmas letters, this was written to honor his beloved wit and questionable truths.
Jim was known for his long, entertaining stories, which he loved to repeat often. We will be sharing these during the celebration of life at Jim’s Bar on July 16th from 2-6 p.m., all are welcome to come. Anyone wearing black will not be admitted to the party, Hawaiian shirts will receive a free beer.
COLORADO CALLING ME
I’ve got Colorado calling me
Calling me back home
Although I’ve never lived there
It will always be my home
I visit in the winter
To ski the slopes of snow
I’m often there in summer
Fishing for the trout I know
I love their Golden beer
And their golden hills above
So why don’t I move
To that golden state I love
-James Stevens
