James ‘Jim’ Alfred LaVallee
GARDEN — James “Jim” Alfred LaVallee, 85, of Garden Mich., died peacefully on April 21, 2024, at home with his loving wife Shirley LaVallee by his side. Jim was a friend to all and made them easily over the years. He was born on February 17, 1939, in Garden Mich. He graduated from Cooks High School in 1957 and then proceeded with a career that took him on many life experiences such as building runways at Chicago O’Hare airport, plowing the snow-covered roads for the Delta County Road Commission, delivering fresh topsoil all over Oakland County, Michigan, and retiring from GM’s Pontiac Motors. After retirement at 52, Jim moved back to his beloved Garden Peninsula where he helped many friends and family with everything from snow removal to home repair. While retired, he built two homes and a cabin and thoroughly enjoyed cutting wood and building roads on his hunting property with his trusty backhoe loader. He also enjoyed traveling the United States (as long as the roads and bridges weren’t too high) building and sharing memories with family and friends.
Jim loved his wife, Shirley, and his family dearly. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alfred and Leona LaVallee; sister, Mary Fay Minor-Pizzala; and brothers-in-law, Jack Minor and Jack Thousand and his second wife Jeannette Gauthier-LaVallee. He leaves behind his wife Shirley of 19 years, son, James M LaVallee (Lisa); grandsons, Joseph A LaVallee (McKenna and great grandson Baker) and Matthew R LaVallee; sisters, Anne Thousand and Jane Neverman (Gus); brother, John LaVallee (Robin) and brother-in-law Darryl Pizzala; Jim also had a wonderful extended family, stepdaughter, Lori Richard, stepsons, Cal Jr Richard (Jill) and Eric Gierke. Step grandchildren Brittney Jurek (Peyton and great grandson Edward), Kylee Thurman (Dylan), Tony Richards, Claire Surphlis, Dennis Karttunen (Amber) and Eli Karttunen. He also had numerous loving cousins, nieces, nephews (especially his camp crew Steve, Mike, Bruce, and Bill), grandnieces, and grandnephews.
A funeral service for Jim will be held Friday, May 3, at the Garden Township Cemetery, at 11 a.m. A reception will be held following the internment at St. John’s the Baptist Catholic Church reception hall, Garden Mich. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Garden Historical Society, PO Box 6, Garden MI 49835 in Jim’s memory.
Fausett Family Funeral Homes is assisting the family with arrangements.