James Harold Nordin

James Harold Nordin was born in Russellville, Arkansas in 1931 to parents Frank Nordin & Thelma Kiser Nordin Israel. He was the oldest of 3 boys. He died peacefully in Visalia, California at Prestige Assisted Living Care Home from complications that developed quickly due to the isolation & inactivity of the Covid19 quarantine. He had been active & driving up until that point. He loved God, loved his family, & loved teaching Sunday School & Bible study to other seniors. He loved going to the early service at Gateway Church of Visalia, so he could hear the worship team practice, then enjoy the music all over again, during the service. He had many friends there & will be greatly missed.

He met & married his first wife Carole at the beach in Newport Beach, California where her parents had a beach cabin & hitchhiked back & forth from the base to her parents home in Los Angeles until they were married in 1953 in a garden wedding in her aunt's back yard. They were together until her sudden death in 1992 at the age of only 58, after 39 years of marriage. They had 2 children together, Cheryl & Jim.

He was an Air Force veteran & fought in the Korean War in the 1950's. He loved reading, especially science fiction novels, & passed that love onto his children & grandchildren, He read stories to his kids, when they were little, complete with a different voice for each character. When he got out of the Air Force, He worked on radar installations all over the United States. He wasn't in the military any longer, but worked for the military, which meant moving his family around every couple of years to new installations. Later he worked for Raytheon for many years, in the defense industry. They made good use of his feisty side or "arguing skills" otherwise known as negotiating contracts, which he was really good at.

He was single for a couple of years, but missed the closeness of married life. He was introduced to his second wife, Rose Marie Wade, a spunky widow with a great sense of humor, by a Bible study friend. They were married 24 1/2 years before her passing last year in August, which affected him greatly. He said her death was harder for him to deal with than the unexpected death of his first wife many years earlier. He was faithfully by her side until the end. He felt like he had gained another daughter & son & their spouses when he married Rose Marie. They have treated him like he was their own & helped him manage his financial, personal, & medical needs. 

Besides outliving 2 loving wives, Carole in 1992 & Rose Marie in 2019, he was preceded in death by his youngest brother Bob Nordin in 2014 and his son Jim in 2017. He is survived by his daughter Cheryl (& Artie) Ower in Hawaii, step-daughter Jadene (& John) Payton in Visalia, step-son Ron (& Kelly) Wade in Visalia, middle brother Ken (& Betty) Nordin of Modesto, daughter-in-law Laura Nordin in Missouri, 4 grandchildren (Rebecca, Chris, David, & Matthew), 6 step-grandchildren, numerous great grandchildren, & his little dog Shi of 15 years.

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