James Garnet Beck, 83

Beloved husband, father and grandfather graduated to heaven surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife, Judy, of 46 years, five children and six grandsons, Sean, Chase, Hunter, Jake, Connor and Alex. He is also survived by his brother, Pete, and sister-in-law Sally.

Jim was preceded in death by his mother, Honorae Beck, father Walter Jackson Beck, sister Joy Switzer and his beloved son, James Michael.

Jim graduated from Edison High School in Miami, Fla. He entered the U.S. Air Force in 1956 as a flight mechanic. After his honorable discharge, he served as engineer on the Anchorage Borough Fire Department. During his tenure at ABFD, he attended the University of Alaska — Anchorage and graduated with honors with a fire science degree. He also went on the get his EMT/paramedic certifications.

He was an avid snow machine racer and Go Kart Racer in Alaska. This was quite a contradiction, as in his latter career he was the safety instructor for JB Hunt Transport and was awarded for having over a million accident-free miles logged.

After his retirement, Jim worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press delivering newspapers to the Moses Lake office.

He will be greatly missed and will be forever in the hearts of his family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, his family is asking for donations to be made to the Kootenai County Fire Department as they were always here to assist the family while Jim was sick. These first responders always granted him respect, dignity and grace and our family will be forever grateful to them.