After a life well loved and lived well, James (Jim) Michael LeMoine, 78, succumbed to complications from Alzheimer’s disease with family at his side on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. The arc of Jim’s life was overflowing with laughter and love for his family and friends and a faith journey with Jesus that inspired all those who knew him.
Jim was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 6, 1946.
He and his siblings grew up in North St. Paul, where Jim attended St. Peter Catholic School and graduated from North High School in 1964. He earned a reputation for mischievous behavior that was greatly frowned upon by the nuns at St. Peter. “He was a brat,” summed up his sister Mimi, who was four years his junior.
Perhaps he struggled with the loss of his mother to cancer when he was just 16, but despite the high jinks, Jim learned to value hard work and self-sufficiency.
He drove a bus, poured concrete, sold shoes, and did other odd jobs until he joined the U.S. Navy in January 1967. There, he was stationed in Hawaii (the source of many colorful Jim stories), working in communications. After his honorable discharge in October 1968, he trained as a cosmetologist and drove a school bus until he took a job in the mailroom at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He advanced quickly and eventually became a lead machinist before retiring after 31 years in 2008.
Jim’s off-the-wall humor and storytelling are legendary. One favorite told and retold was the “mystery entree” he served at a family Christmas that everyone agreed was delicious. Only when daughter-in-law Bridget returned for a second helping did Jim’s famous impish smile appear, and he informed her that they were eating squirrel. “Let’s put it this way,” said his daughter Danielle of Jim’s sense of humor: "He was often wildly inappropriate!”
Yet, underneath the practical jokes, bad puns, and tall tales was a joy and tenderness that made everyone feel good, even the random strangers Jim would often befriend. He also coupled his fun-loving nature with steadfast devotion and service to his wife, Julie, children, siblings, precious grandchildren, and community. These qualities blazed even brighter after Jim’s transformational commitment later in life to sobriety and faith in God. “Dad’s connection to Jesus changed him,” said his son Tim.
Jim and Julie became dedicated members of Eagle Brook Church, where they joined Quest 180°, a ministry for anyone recovering from addiction. After a devastating hurricane, Jim and his men’s group traveled to New Orleans to help with cleanup. Always proud of his military service, Jim was a member of Hugo American Legion Post 620 and served on the color guard. And when emergencies struck his neighbors, he responded as a volunteer EMT and firefighter for the city of Hugo from 1986 to 1996.
Jim’s passions – after the people he loved – were many, including hunting, fishing, camping, painting, taxidermy, dogs, traveling, music, and cribbage, which his grandfather taught him to play at the age of eight, and he in turn, taught his grandchildren.
For those he left behind, Jim was a loving husband to Julie LeMoine for 30 years; a cherished father to Danielle (Dominic) Dinger and Timothy (Bridget) LeMoine; a devoted brother to John (Carol) LeMoine and Mimi (David) Miller, half-sister Gypsi LeMoine, stepbrothers Jim Crisp and Tom (Julie) Crisp; an adoring grandfather to Silas, Madeline, Lily, Josephine, Tyler, Evan, Willow, Oscar, and Charlotte; and a favorite uncle to many nieces and nephews!
He is met in death by his parents, Louise and Fred LeMoine, and siblings, Bene’t Winberg and Melanie Moris, as well as his mother and father-in-law, Joan and Ron Johnson.
A remembrance service is planned for Jim on Friday, October 25, at Eagle Brook Church, 2401 Buffalo St., White Bear Lake. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m., with a service to follow at 11 a.m.