James Carl 'Jim' Finke was born Feb. 28, 1936 in Kendrick and graduated from Orofino High School in 1954. He married Shirley Bullock and together they had three sons, Corby, Terry and Randy. Jim and Shirley were married for 57 years.

He started his career in logging at 16 working during summers for his father's company, Carl Finke Logging. In 1974, he bought into the company and with his brother, Butch, they formed Finke Logging, Co., Inc. They logged for Potlatch Corp for many years.

Jim was a board member of Associated Logging Contractors and Associated Logging Exchange. He was also a member of Orofino Golf and Country Club and Clarkston Gold and Country Club. Jim was an avid supporter of youth baseball and was particularly proud of being among those that started back up the American Legion program in the early 1970s. He and Shirley were honored as Grand Marshalls for Orofino Lumberjack Days in 2007.

He enjoyed working on his property, the old Finke homestead in Southwick. His interests included watching sports, gambling at the casino, golfing and gardening with his great grandson Peyton. Anyone who knew Jim knew he got great pleasure in razzing his grandkids, though he loved them dearly. Nothing was more important to him than his family; he always knew what everyone was up to (thanks to his new found love of Facebook).

He was raised and lived by the old school ways, always true to his word and everyone had great respect for him. Being the hard worker that he was, Jim got a little discouraged in his last few years when he was unable to get out and see the logging jobs and enjoy the woods he loved so much.

He passed away March 7, 2012 at his home surrounded by his loving family at the age of 76, after a five-year battle with lung cancer.

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