James “Jim” Friesen
Obituary
James (Jim) Stanley Friesen, age 88, passed away on Thursday, August 6, 2026.
He was pre-deceased by his beloved wife, Naome Friesen. He was also pre-deceased by his son-in-law (Jerrie Reimer), his parents, three sisters, three brothers-in-law, one brother and a sister-in-law.
He leaves behind his five children, Lucille Friesen, Colleen Reimer, Andrew Friesen (Brenda), Laurel Moser (Trevor) and Joshua Friesen (Tracy). He also left behind many grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Jim was born in Blumenhof, Manitoba on December 17, 1937, to Abram and Mary Friesen. His Siemens grandmother was the midwife. He was the fourth of six children.
When Jim was nine years old, his parents moved the family to Niagara Falls for a few years. When Jim was twelve and his sisters were at dating age, his parents decided to move the family back to southern Manitoba. His parents bought a farm and settled down.
In his younger years, Jim learned to play the guitar which became one of his greatest passions in life. While dating Naome, he would serenade her with his guitar.
On June 6, 1959, Jim married Naome Dueck. They had many adventures together. Jim says they lived in about 26 different places. When they were first married, they worked construction jobs up north and Naome cooked for the construction crew. Jim mentioned a few of the places where they worked – Easter Ville, Big Trout Lake, Sandy Lake, Ear Falls and others.
While they were living this nomadic lifestyle, they started a family and had their three oldest children. Cooking for a crew of men and taking care of three children was a lot for Naome and so they eventually decided to settle down.
A few years later they bought a hog farm and built up that homestead and business together. This venture came with a lot of hard work. Jim also worked in construction during the first while to help bring in extra funds to support the budding new business.
Music was always a big part of Jim’s life. Everyone who knew Jim was aware of his love for bluegrass music. All his children took piano lessons, some of his children learned to play the mandolin or wind instruments and his oldest son became proficient on the guitar. In the 1980’s Jim and his brother joined their families together and formed a bluegrass band. Countless evenings and weekends were spent practicing, singing and performing at different venues in Southern Manitoba.
Jim made life fun for his family on the farm. He bought horses, dirt bikes and snowmobiles. In the winter months, he built a skating rink in the bush and even had a shack with a wood burning stove so his children could warm up. Some winters, when there was plenty of snow, Jim would gather it into piles to make a ramp to slide on or to dig tunnels to climb through. In the summer, he built a swimming pool from plywood and inserted a plastic liner, giving his children hours of water fun.
Having a good head for business, Jim built up the farm and made a good living to support his family. James and Naome eventually built a brand-new home on the farm with an inground pool in the backyard. Farming made it difficult to get away for a vacation in the summer months. This was his way of blessing the family with a vacation spot right in the backyard.
Jim also made a lot of effort to take his family on summer vacations, regardless of the challenges of running a farm. Hired hands took over during the week the family was gone. For many years he would rent a cabin for the family by a lake. He invested in a boat for skiing and tubing which created many good memories. Those times brought the family closer.
Jim and Naome also went on many southern vacations. They at times joined other couples and traveled to bluegrass festivals together. In their older years, they would visit Desert Hot Springs with their motor home and spend a few months there during the coldest part of each year.
Later on, he grew tired of farming and when his son, Andrew, began to run the farm, Jim started trucking and drove long distance. Naome went for her Class One license and joined him. When she was done with that lifestyle, Jim continued to drive long distance with other drivers.
Jim had a great sense of humor. Telling jokes, making people laugh was his go to. He loved to bring a smile to others, whether that was through a joke or just saying something completely silly. He would often repeat a joke many times. He would keep a paper in his wallet with tiny writing. On this paper was listed the punch line to jokes. That’s all he needed to jog his memory. If there was a fun event happening, Jim was there, full of joy and laughs. While he lived at Bridgepark Manor, he would dress up for Halloween, which brought smiles to the other residents.
He loved flowers and enjoyed the many basketfuls he received in spring from his daughter, Lucille. People complimenting him on his baskets of blooms brought him great pleasure.
At family Christmas gatherings, Jim insisted on singing carols and reading the Christmas story from the Bible.
Reading was one of Jim’s loved pastimes. He enjoyed learning and sharing what he’d discovered in the many books he devoured. In his later years he decided to learn Spanish. He often spoke to his family in Spanish, whether they were able to understand him or not. Practicing this new language was important to him. He even went on a few mission trips to Mexico, where he could practice his Spanish.
In the last few years, Andy and Brenda would visit Jim and father and son would play guitar and sing Christian songs together. Jim would shed tears if a song was especially meaningful to him.
Through the years Jim took his family to church. Reading the Bible became precious to him in his later years. He loved listening to gospel music and would often send YouTube songs to his family, ones that he found encouraging.
Jim was looking forward to going to heaven, seeing his Lord and being reunited with his wife. He is there now, surrounded by God’s love.
The funeral service will be held on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, MB. with viewing one hour prior to the service.
