MOSES LAKE - Linda Whitaker described her husband, Jim, as a loving person with a great sense of humor and a passion for football.

"He had a wonderful sense of humor," she said. "He was the funniest person I know. He had stories about everyone and everything. He was very competitive. I believe he was the brightest person I've met, and if he didn't know everything, he could make you believe he did."

Jim Whitaker, 62, was the city attorney for several Columbia Basin cities, including Moses Lake, Soap Lake and Othello. He died recently after a year-long battle with cancer.

Jim was born in 1949, the son of a security guard in Los Alamos, N.M. He graduated from Omak High School in 1967 where he was a backup quarterback. He graduated from the University of Washington, and Gonzaga University of Law.

Linda said his love for football and the Huskies followed him through his life. He coached the Warden High School football team and the Columbia Basin Riverhawks. She said some of the best years of his life were as a coach for the Ephrata High School football team.

"He loved the football players. He loved football," she said. "Every day could be football day. He loved it ... He wrote his own quarterback manuals."

After graduating law school, Jim was offered a job with then-prosecutor Paul Klausen, Linda said. He promised to stay with the office for two years. When he told her it would only be for a couple of years, she answered she could live anywhere for two years.

"Now we've been here for 35 years and it's a wonderful community," she said. 

Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said he encountered Jim the first time while they were at Gonzaga, but doubted he would remember. He met him again while they were attorneys working in the county. Gavinski was handling criminal defense cases and Jim was working in the prosecutor's office.

When Gavinski was appointed as city manager in May 1980, he asked Jim to take the position as the city's attorney because he was knowledgeable about municipal law and could handle prosecutions for the city.

"He was a very loyal and dedicated advocate for those who he represented," Gavinski said. "His dedicated and ardent effective legal counsel will be remembered. Either you loved Jim or you hated him. Jim was a very opinionated individual. He carried that into the representation and advocacy he provided. Once Jim believed something he held onto that."

Gavinski said he got to know Jim a lot more during the roughly 30 years they worked together. He said the relationship between the two was rather unique in terms of city management since both of them were attorneys.

"We were able to share things and spend a lot of to really work over issues," he said. "It was rewarding and gratifying to be able to do that and him allowing me to do that ... I will miss him and I already do."

Jim's practice expanded until he represented many of the cities in Grant County. Linda said he had an office dog named Panda who traveled to work with him.

"He treated her like a princess," she said. 

He maintained his positions until February when he decided the work was too much, Linda said. 

"He was just my best friend," she said. "We spent more than half of our life together and he'll always be a part of me."