James Randall Shake

1948 - 2025

James Randall Shake
May 28, 1948 - June 13, 2025
Jim Shake, 77, of Parma died June 13 at home with family by his side. He was born on May 28, 1948, in Ontario, OR to Hudson and Shirley (Pence) Shake. He attended Fruitland grade schools and graduated from Fruitland High School in 1966.
From a young age he worked in his parents' fruit orchards and his father and grandfather's fruit packing house in Payette. After high school graduation, he attended the University of Idaho but returned home in 1969 to enlist in the Idaho National Guard. In 1978 he began building his cabin having bought land in the Nu Acres area south of Fruitland. He was determined to build the cabin himself, stripping the bark from each log by hand. He built a small shed and lived there while working on the main cabin. He finished his cabin in 1981 and was still renovating it before he died.
Jim held various jobs including working for his parents until they sold the orchards. He drove tractor for American Fine Foods. He worked several years for Amalgamated Sugar in Nyssa, returning in the spring and summers to work on local farmers' fields. He held a position in the Weed Control Department in Malheur County, wrote an agricultural column for the Argus Observer and briefly served as an outfitter guide in the central Idaho wilderness. He finally went into business for himself as "The Weedslayer" spraying noxious weeds for his customers.
Jim was an outdoorsman and lover of nature. In addition to identifying plants, flowers and weeds, he learned to identify ducks, geese and other birds. When he was in high school, he made a large poster of the Northern and Southern hemispheres with the migratory paths of several species of birds that he represented with mini cut-out paper models pinned to the poster. His brothers remember being rousted out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to wade across an icy Payette River to get a favorite Jim Shake duck blind spot. He was 10 years old the first time he went deer hunting with his dad. A 4-point 200 lb. mule deer ran a few feet past them and his dad shot from the hip and killed it. The antlers fell at Jim's feet. He had his first lesson in gutting a deer. Over the years, his cabin became a showcase for the many birds, beaver, muskrat, bobcat, deer, and elk he had hunted or trapped over the years.
Shy as a youngster he would remain an avoider of large crowds but enjoyed time with close friends. He was a man of few words except when recounting a particular harrowing or hilarious hunting expedition. He had floated the Owyhee River several times even taking his mother for a ride. He believed he was born in the wrong century and thought being a mountain man 200 years ago would have suited him fine. As if to prove his point, he completed three solo trips to Alaska and northeastern Alberta and the Northwest Territories between 1974 to 1977. His first adventure was to Twin Lakes, Alaska where he lived and watched the house for the author Sam Keith. He fell in love with the area and would have stayed there indefinitely if not for the frigid winters and the killer mosquitos in summer. He spent time in Wood Buffalo National Park and embarked on an 800-mile float trip down the Peace River. He slept under his canoe on islands of the river to avoid bears and woke up to bear snouts sniffing around the edge of the canoe. It was on the Peace River that a rock ripped a hole in his canoe and forced him to hike to a Native village for help. The only way out of the village was by airplane and when he learned a tribesman had died recently and was awaiting transport that he was able to hitch a ride and come home.
He was a member of the American Legion, the Military Honors of Treasure Valley and President of the Fruitland High School Alumni Association.
He is predeceased by his parents. Survivors include his loving wife and partner of 35 years, Kim Webb, at home in Parma. Brothers, Steven (Marilyn) Shake of Caldwell, Terry (Ann) Shake of Fruitland; sister, Julie (David) Tanner of Ridgefield, WA; several nieces, nephews and cousins.
A memorial service will be held at Cow Hollow Park, 1030 Janeta Avenue, Nyssa, OR on July 26 at 1 p.m.