James Allan Living

Holt, MI

Born at home July 1937 to Clarence and Marquis Living in Buckingham, Quebec, Canada, Jim has passed away at his home with loved ones there on June 25, 2024, age 86.

He was a star hockey player from the time he could walk, and he was signed to the New York Rangers.  However, coming home from a championship game they had won, their van was hit by a drunk driver and that ended his dreams of pro hockey.

In the late 50s he joined Spartan Air Services in Ottawa, Canada, and this took him all over the world as an aerial photographer.  They were flying Mosquitos, a WWII fighter bomber built for combat but never were used in the war as the war had ended.  On one of his jobs in the Bahamas, he met his future wife, Carole North, a flight attendant with Eastern Air Lines and they married the following year in 1959.  With his wife with him, Jim worked in Colombia S.A. and Argentina. Their first child, Christopher, was born in late 1963 and when Jim received a job offer from Abrams Aerial Survey in Lansing, the family moved to Lansing and finally settled in Holt where their second son, Gregory, was born.  In the early 80s Jim received an offer to work for Woolpert Engineering headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, in marketing and sales.  When he retired the pair started more travel in the states and abroad.

Hockey continued to remain a big part of his life.  He was a linesman at MSU and served as a referee in the Western Collegiate Hockey League.  He was also very active in civic affairs.

Jim will be missed, no doubt about it.  Missed most sorely by his family.  He was the last of his five siblings to pass away.  He is survived by his loving wife, Carole, sons Chris and Greg, daughter-in-law Dianna, grandsons Joseph and Jackson, and numerous nieces and nephews all over North America.

The funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 29, 2024, at the Estes-Leadley Holt/Delhi Chapel, 2121 N. Cedar St., Holt. His family will receive relatives and friends at the funeral home from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. on Friday and beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in his memory to Lansing Central Alcoholics Anonymous, 1915 E. Michigan Ave., Suite D, Lansing, MI 48912, or The Capital Humane Society, 7095 W. Grand River Ave., Lansing, MI 48906.