Jim left this earth on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, and is now reunited with his wife Helen.
Jim’s life was anything but ordinary. Born in Gifford, Idaho, and then raised in Lewiston, Jim was always on the go which was most proven while in the second grade. During that one school year, his family moved four times which meant four different schools. Jim was taught the value of the dollar at an early age as well. His first paying job was having a paper route, which the majority of his earnings his father saved for him.
While in the eighth grade, his father passed away and Jim took on the role of provider for his mother. He started working at Evergreen Tire at the age of 14, a career that he remained in until his retirement from Clearwater Tire in 1994. Jim could build pretty much anything which he proved by building their own home on the lot he purchased with the money he saved from his paper route. Jim also built a camper for their pickup which took the family on many adventures.
Prior to getting married, Jim loved stock car racing, most of which was done at the old dirt track at the Lewiston speedway. He stopped racing when he and Helen Ruple were married in 1954 and started their family.
Jim loved to hunt deer on the Salmon River and fish for steelhead on our local rivers and Kokanee at Dworshak Reservoir.
Jim and Helen loved to travel. They spent many winters in the warm Arizona sun as well as numerous summers on the Washington coast, where he became involved with local Coast Guard. He eventually became an auxiliary member. Jim was never one to sit still and was always on the go with one exception, that being his daily happy hour.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents Henry and Marie (Berntsen); his wife Helen; brother Ernie; sisters Esther Lockard, Viola Haeder and Eda McCrery. He is survived by his son Kevin (Lori); daughter Karla (Tim) Broemeling; grandchildren Joe (Vanessa) Broemeling, Amy (Vince) Yochum and Sara (Cory) Crews; great-grandchildren Gavin, Everett and Paxton Broemeling, Olive and Eleanor Yochum and Jack and Nora Crews.
The family would like to thank the care givers at Royal Plaza and Life Care, both of which provided kind and compassionate care for him.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 920 Eighth Ave., Lewiston. The church and congregation were much beloved by Jim, and it was more than a place of worship, it was home.
Father, grandfather, great-grandfather or Uncle Jimmy, Jim Dammon was no ordinary man and will be missed by all of us. Rest in peace, you are home at last.
