Jim Rivard

1948 - 2022

Belgrade, Montana. Early Thursday morning, November 24th, Thanksgiving Day, Jim Rivard, the loving husband of Kimberly Rivard, passed away at age seventy-four after sixteen years as an inspiring heart transplant recipient. Jim was a committed spokesperson for Donate Life Northwest, where he made organ donation issues more understandable by communicating the emotional, health, and personal dimensions of giving and receiving a life-saving organ.

Everybody who came into contact with Jim, including the medical and local communities, was forever affected by his second chance at life and his remarkably open and positive personality.



Jim received the heart of a hero, Timothy Somers, who saved a five-year-old boy from drowning at Lake Almanor in Northern California. Timothy drowned from exertion and was med-flighted to Reno, NV, where his family gave permission to donate his heroic heart. The generosity of the Kathy and John Somers family will always be one of the great chapters in Jim's life story.

Jim is survived by Kimberly Rivard, his wife and healthfulness partner of nearly a decade, residing in Belgrade, Dr. Kate Hurlbut, his supportive daughter-in-law from Helena, and Seth Rivard, his son, a Billings paramedic by a previous marriage. Jim is also survived by his sister, Mary Olson, and his brother-in-law, Jim Olson, from New Jersey, his brother Mike Rivard, and his sister-in-law. Dr. Vivian Johnson, from Minneapolis, Minnesota; his sister, Jan Attridge, from Grand Marais, Minnesota; Jan's son, Dr. Mark Attridge, and his wife, Cheryl Rosebrook, and Christian (Chris) Rivard, all from Minneapolis.

Donations may be directed to Donate Life Northwest -

https://www.donatelifenw.org/content/anyone-can-be-hero-make-gift-today

Please remember to register as an organ donor today.