James B. Strong

James B. Strong, age 89, of Olympia, and former resident of Moses Lake, died on February 2, 2010. He was born in New York City in 1920 and grew up in Grinnell, Iowa, where his father was a professor of economics. Jim graduated from Grinnell College in 1942, then went into the US Army field artillery. He served in Normandy and Brittany in 1944 as an artillery forward observer, radioing in locations for artillery fire. He was seriously wounded in his arm after about a month, and had a long recuperation. In 1945 he married Sylvia Kolden of Portland. They went to Juneau in the Alaska territory in 1946, where Jim served as a field agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, visiting traditional native villages all over the territory. He then went to Yale Law School, and upon graduating in 1952 Jim and his family moved to Washington state. He was in private law practice first in Spokane, then Moses Lake, from 1954 to 1968, also serving as a part-time municipal judge and district court judge in Moses Lake.

In 1968 he moved to the Olympia area and worked as an administrative law judge until retiring in 1986, and continued working part-time until he fully retired at the age of 84. He did volunteer work for his church and with the local Lions Club (past president), and worked as a tutor in an after-school program for junior high school students and as a volunteer tax preparer.

Jim was always a gardener and naturalist. He was involved in the Native Plant Society and collected native plants, especially trees native to the state, and planted many species of native trees around his home and property on Puget Sound. He maintained a very large and productive vegetable garden. He loved the English language, knew how to spell every word anyone asked, and he read the dictionary for fun. He and his wife Sylvia traveled to many interesting places around the world, ranging from India, Australia, Egypt, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia, to many countries of Europe.

Jim had a large extended family that got together often, sometimes 70 or more family members. He was immensely proud of his family, and nothing made him happier than spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He is survived by his wife Sylvia, four children – Stephen (Lorri) Strong of Mercer Island, Mary (Rick) Bartholomew of Olympia, Nancy Strong of Seattle, and Sarah (Mark) Petrie of Olympia (all in Washington) – and nine grandchildren.