Jim was born to Jacob & Elisabeth Dyck on November 25, 1935, the ninth of ten children. He grew up on the family farm east of Carstairs, Alberta and received his education at the New Bergthal School. Shooting pesky gophers was the main source of entertainment and soon became part of his lifelong love of hunting big game. As a young adult he accepted Jesus as his Saviour and was baptized upon confession of faith.

Jim stayed on the farm and in June, 1962 married Mary Loewen. They were blessed with three wonderful children; Lisa, Jeff & Corrie. In 1972 they sold the farm and bought a fishing resort in the B.C. interior, after which the family moved to the beautiful Creston Valley. Here he found so many opportunities to share his love of the outdoors by taking the family on camping trips, with just a tarp on the truck box, then a big canvas army tent, to a tent trailer, truck camper units, and later, modern trailers. Boating, fishing and swimming at Kootenay Lake became familiar activities in later years with grandchildren. A campfire and wiener roast on the beach ended a perfect day.

Jim found employment in Creston with the local school district for 24 years, serving as a school bus driver and grounds keeper. At the age of 58 he received a certificate as a Journeyman Painter & Decorator from B.C. IT. Jim was a man of few words and his retirement speech was six words long. “Retirement sure fits, I love it!”

Jim’s love of hunting took him to points in Alberta, B.C., Alaska and the N.W. Territory, and seldom was their freezer lacking wild meat. He also really enjoyed fishing – trout, halibut and especially salmon off the west coast. Sharing camping and fishing trips with family and friends were the best holidays. He also loved to go “rock hunting” for rocks for the garden. He was REALLY going bear hunting or competing with the bears for the wild huckleberries!

In retirement, Jim had fun finding pine trees with small burls which he cut, peeled and polished to use in making walking sticks, canes and 3 or 4 legged tables with cedar tops which he called “Flintstone furniture”. Thus was born “Knots & Knobs” and he gave away those items to family & friends as well as selling some.
After moving back to Alberta in 2017, his favorite thing was to play pool with his new friends in Legacy Village. In spite of some medical challenges, his life was full of love, joy, peace and contentment. He is survived and dearly missed by his wife of 62 years, Mary, daughter Lisa (Don Oelke), son Jeff Dyck (Diane), and daughter Corrie Dyck; grandchildren Dana, Lianne, Erin, Michelle & Brian and 3 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by sister Lorna Loudon, four sisters-in-law, and many nieces and nephews. On August 21, 2024, Jim “breathed his last and was gathered to his people”.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jim’s name to the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

• Date : 2024-08-30
• Location : (Olds) Locally Family Owned (Red Deer/Blackfalds/Eckville) www.ParklandFuneralHome.com & (Innisfail/Olds/Didsbury/Sundre) www.HeartlandFuneralServices.com