Mooney – James (Jim) Mooney of Brooks, beloved husband of the late Myrna Moone, passed away in Brooks, in the afternoon of October 14th, 2021 at the age of 87 years. He was born on August 23rd, 1934 in Arborfield, Saskatchewan to Nora and Neil Mooney. Jim career began mining potash in Saskatchewan, then the oil patch brought him and his family to Alberta. He worked for Precision Drilling for over 35 years and was very proud of all the wells he successfully drilled all over Southern Alberta. When Jim’s daughter was in elementary school, she was told by her teacher that when a rig strikes oil it gushes out the top of the derrick. Jim knew this information was wrong and made a visit to the school to set the teacher straight on the true process of striking oil. He was very proud of his industry and his involvement in it and wanted to be sure misinformation wasn’t being spread. Jim and Myrna retired to Nanton, Alberta in 1991, where they built a home on a few acres next to the Nanton golf course. They spent many hours on the course together playing golf, as well as hunting for balls that were lost by other golfers. He would often be seen escorting his grandkids on lost golf ball hunts and then set them up with a booth next to the 12th tee box to make a little pocket money selling the experienced balls to golfers. While in Nanton, Jim also got involved in the Seniors Center (referred to by the family as the Geritol Club) as well as the curling club. He made many lifelong friends, who will miss his sassy sense of humour and easy laugh. Not a man to let anything go to waste, Jim did his best to repurpose things. He could fix almost anything and had parts for all sorts of random things, certain he would find a use for them. Jim bought an old school bus and converted it into a camper for his young wife and 4 kids. It would cause quite a stir in the campground and a crowd would gather whenever he pulled in. Once he got the bus parked, he would drive a compact car out of the rear of the bus. Jim was an accomplished wood worker and completed many cherished projects for family and friends over the years. He had a full shop where he spent many hours building and fixing. Jim spent a good deal of time making wine in his basement. He used tried and true recipes, using all kinds of fruit that his friends and family grew for him. Jim could turn almost anything into wine. Rhubarb and chokecherry were some of his favourites to make in his “Mosquito Creek Basement Winery”. If you were lucky enough to be his friend and could handle sharing a glass of his special brew, he always sent you home with a bottle. Not sure if Jim ever won any awards for taste but he really loved the process and being able to share his creations. One spring day he asked his two teenage daughters who were still living at home, as well as his wife, to help him collect the fluff from dandelions growing in the neighborhood so that he could make a batch of dandelion wine. Each of them were required to fill a quart sealer for his recipe. It took hours to collect that much dandelion fluff! Many hours were spent on the water fishing with his wife Myrna and kids. Jim knew all the good fishing lakes in Alberta and Saskatchewan and took his family on many camping trips to go fishing. He had an issue in his rear yard in Okotoks with Dew Worms damaging his grass and decided he was going to collect the worms and use them to fish. Jim was found in the back yard with the hose, flooding a section of lawn in the dark, with a pair of needle nose pliers at the ready for when the worms poked their heads above the water. He was quite a sight found on his hands and knees in the water with his bifocals at the end of his nose and the pliers ready to strike. Those worms didn’t stand a chance! Jim enjoyed spending time with his grandkids and always found unconventional ways to keep them entertained. He helped his son Brad’s kids snare 2 gophers and sent them home to their mother in the city, trapped in a cardboard box. All his grandkids learned their early driving skills by touring Jim around on his golf cart. He loved to fly a kite with his grandkids and put them to work in the garden. In retirement, Jim and Myrna cut a large plot of garden on their acreage in Nanton. He loved nothing more than to send every visitor home with a bag of freshly grown items and getting his grandkids involved made him very happy. Jim’s love of sport was a lifelong enjoyment, he was a fastball pitcher in his youth and he passed his love for baseball onto all his kids. He spent many hours watching his beloved Blue Jays with his family. Jim was home once when his job transferred him to Calgary and was able to coach his two younger kids in baseball, as well as Ringette. There were many early mornings at the rink and hot afternoons at the ball diamond as a family. He sent a very clear message of what he thought was right and wrong. Things were either black or white for Jim. When his kids got their drivers licence, he insisted they couldn’t take the car out without spending time with him in his garage, learning basic car maintenance and learning how to change a tire. This was non-negotiable. If his kids wanted to take his car they had to be able to help themselves if the car broke down. Jim and Myrna both loved social gatherings and were very seasoned dancers. They would often be the first out on the dance floor and all his friends and family loved to watch them glide around the floor together. Jim would make sure to get most of the ladies in their group out on the floor, whether they really wanted to or not. He made it look easy. Jim had a very full life for all of his 87 years. His family was worried that Myrna would be angry when he joined her in the after world with a full grey beard. She always insisted on a clean-shaven face and Jim had grown a beard since her death. His family hopes that he and Myrna are cruising around the dance floor together again, in Heaven. Jim was very loved by all who knew him, and he will be sorely missed. If you were fortunate enough to call him friend, you were his friend for life. He was a very loyal man who could talk to anybody, from any walk of life. Some of his friends were lucky enough to be part of his live for 70+ years. Jim lost is wife Myrna in May of 2020 and would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this month. He left a legacy in his daughters Debbie Kowal, Renee Clarkin and Leanne Graham and his son, Brad Mooney. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In memory of James, if friends desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to either Alzheimer Society of Alberta, 10430 – 61st Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 2J3, https://alzheimer.ca/en/ca, who supported Jim and family during Myrna’s very difficult disease or Brooks Toy Library, 327 – 3rd Street West, Brooks, Alberta T1R 0E7.
Funeral arrangements entrusted to:
SMITH FUNERAL HOME LTD. AND CREMATORIUM
BROOKS, ALBERTA
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