James Mulkay Obituary

James Mulkay 90, went to be with the Lord on April 26, 2013. He passed away peacefully with his wife Marjorie and many family members at his side.

Jim was born January 17, 1923 in Superior, Wyoming, the eighth of ten children born to Leslie and Anne Mulkay. He married Marjorie Losli September 27, 1943 in Hillsboro, Oregon. They had two girls, Ilene and Barbara. Ilene preceded him in death in 1986.

During World War II, Jim joined the Navy and was stationed at the Tillamook Naval Blimp Base. For the duration of the war he flew in blimps patrolling the Pacific Coast line, searching for enemy submarine activity. Jim regaled his friends and family with tales of his flying service. He maintained a lifelong interest in blimps and treasured his collection of memorabilia.

When the war ended Jim took a job as a typesetter with Hillsboro Argus newspaper. In 1954 the family moved to Eugene where he went to work for the Register Guard. He worked for the Guard until his retirement in 1988 at age 66. He loved his work as a compositor and for the Baker Family and enthusiastically transitioned from cold typesetting to computer.

Jim had two major passions, his love and devotion to the Lord and his love and devotion to his family. Jim was a spiritual man who lived his life guided by Christian principles and never willfully harmed anyone. Jim was a happy contented man who always had a joke or a smile for everyone. He loved talking to strangers and always made people feel good about themselves. Even when he was so very sick he could joke and laugh and was fully himself until the end.

His other passion was family. Every child, for three generations was taught how to work hard, loyalty and how to be a person of honor by watching how he lived his life. Jim was a special person to each child in the family, his daughters, his grandchildren, and his great grandchildren. Each one has a special memory of the exciting and unique stories he created just for them. Every generation remembers with love how it felt to snuggle up with Grandpa and hear their own special stories. As we grew older he taught us how to fix things in our homes, how to diagnose car problems or prune a tree. He also loved his wife Marjorie and their love taught us all what a good marriage was. They were truly there for each other in sickness and in health for rich or for poor. They would have celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary in September and he died holding her hand.

Jim is survived by his wife Marjorie as well as his daughter Barbara Mulcahy; granddaughter Kelly Inman, her husband Kent and their two children Zachary and Rachel; his grandson Daniel Sandlin and wife Bok Ju; granddaughter Kristin Barber and her four children Keaton, Ryan, Amber and Aaron Purkapile; grandson James Barber and his daughter Zoe. He is also survived by his sisters Ruth Turner and Eberle Lyman and brother Lewis Mulkay.

A special than you to Sacred Heart Hospice, especially his nurses, Steve and Peggy. Their kindness to Jim and the family and the wonderful care he received from them will always be remembered.