Gilbert W. “Gil” James, 68, passed unexpectedly into eternal peace on July 19, 2017.

Gil was born Oct 13, 1948 to the late Paul and Janice James in Latham, NY

Gil was a graduate of Delgado Technical Institute and resided for over 40 yrs in River Ridge, LA where he worked for Avondale shipyards and with his father at Paul’s Home Improvement.

He retired to Marshall, NC in 2007 where he fell in love with the mountains and the people of this area. He made numerous friends here and all will miss him dearly.

Gil was a true renaissance man. He loved photography, collecting antiques, cooking, woodworking, antique tractor restoration, the list is long, he was full of life. The activity he enjoyed the most was creating beautiful works of art in his workshop and listening to WART on the radio. He especially loved the old time radio shows like “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”

Gil was a kind, generous and gentle person, a friend to everyone he met. He was always the first to lend a helping hand.

Numerous cousins and friends survive him, we will all cherish our memories of Gil.

A celebration of life and potluck will be held Aug 12, 2017, 5 PM at the residence.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to WART FM in care of Madison County Arts Council PO Box 32 Marshall, NC 28753 or at www.wartfm.org/james