Jim G. George led an extraordinary life and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Jim lost his battle with vascular dementia on Tuesday Oct. 3, 2023. He was surrounded by love and light and passed peacefully at his home in Hoquiam, Washington. Often described as “the smartest guy I ever met,” Jim was literally a genius with an IQ of 146. In 1946, Jim was adopted by his loving parents James ‘Dutch’ and Nona George of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was a graduate of Edison High School class of 1965, and went on to study business and engineering at Purdue University.
In the 1980s Jim fought bravely for his life following a diagnosis of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Jim was miraculously cured of this horrible disease after receiving one of the first non-related bone marrow transplants from a donor from the Netherlands, at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. His story was written about in Newsweek magazine and he appeared on numerous national television shows, advocating for changes in adoption laws, for medical purposes. Jim worked diligently and was successful in helping others find their birth parents throughout the years.
He was a kind and gentle soul who lived to help others, in each and every community he ever lived. Jim worked as a bank consultant for most of his life, also teaching in his chosen field of anti-fraud. After a short retirement and moving to Hoquiam, he embarked on a new challenge as the financial officer at the Gray’s Harbor Community Foundation, which turned out to be his most proud career move. He loved knowing he was helping to do good in his community. Along with this, he enjoyed serving on the Hoquiam City Council.
Jim found joy in camping, restoring vintage trailers, and hunting for treasures with and without his metal detector. Above all, he loved being Grandy to his grandkids. Jim and Barb blended their family in December of 1994. They moved to Hoquiam in 2011 after living all over the country.
Jim is preceded in death by his parents, and younger brother Steve (Patsy) George. He is survived by his wife Barb, sons Adam and Mark, daughters Allie (Josh) Westberry and Katie (Mitch) Dehnert, grandchildren Addison, Ghianna, Keylee, Mackenzie, Talon and Nico.
The family would like to thank Coleman’s Mortuary for assisting in successfully making Jim’s final wish of donating his body to the University of Washington, a reality.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Habitat for Humanity of Grays Harbor, North Beach Medical Supply or the Grays Harbor Community Foundation.
