James Leo Wingard

James was born in Ruston WA March 1st, 1934, to Leo Lemuel and Agnes Elva (Pennant) Wingard. James died peacefully on July 9th at Rainier Rehabilitation center. He is Survived by his loving partner of 25 years Cynthia Kennedy, Brother William Roy Schrum, stepdaughters Lauren Lively and Jennifer Kruse. Step grandsons Tyler (Emily) and Zachary (Madison) Kruse, Great nephew Jonathan Wingard. And 4 great grandchildren. He is predeceased by Brothers John and Lawrence Wingard.

James was a graduate of Lincoln HS 1952, he transferred from Bellarmine to work full time at Northern Pacific Railroad. Attended UPS in 1953, worked at Associated Grocers 1954-1957 while attending Seattle University1954 and Graduated University of Washington 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. He was in the Armed forces from 1957- 1959; he served his country with honor. He started working for the Boeing company in 1959, first task was converting punch cards to tape on an IBM 7080160K mainframe computer. Programmed BOMARC Spares system on an IBM 1401 4K computer. He retired from Boeing in 1995 after 34 years as a Data Base Administrator.

James loved a game of Golf, baseball and cheering for his beloved Huskies. He was a season ticket holder for 44 years and passed that love on to his family. He was an avid stamp collector and Loved selling and buying on Ebay. James wrote two books covering the Iraq War: ‘Bush Era: History of the Empire’ and ‘Blue star rising.

James was kind, generous and wise. He had many sayings, but “Short visits make long friends” was a favorite. He is loved by many friends and family and his legacy will carry on for generations. The service is through Gaffney Funeral home August 2nd at Mtn. View Cemetery at 2:30pm, in the “Garden of Honor” Please leave online condolences at www.gaffneycares.com and in lieu of flowers please donate to St. Patrick’s School.

Happy Trails Jim, until we meet again…
We LOVE YOU!