Dr. James S. Staples

BUTTE - James Shields Staples, MD, 49, of Butte, an anesthesiologist and former Great Falls physician, died of natural causes Sunday in Butte.
A visitation/wake is 5 to 7 p.m. today, with a vigil at 7 p.m., at Duggan-Dolan Funeral Home in Butte. Funeral Mass is 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Patrick's Church in Butte.
Jim was born Jan. 4, 1961, at St. James Hospital in Butte, to Jane (Shields) Staples and the late Dr. Daniel "Ned" Staples, both Butte natives.
Jim attended the Immaculate Conception (North Central) and McKinley primary schools. At age 10, after winning many state and regional competitions, he was the youngest certified "expert" skier in the Northern Division of the U.S. Ski Association. He also won city and state tennis titles.
Jim graduated Butte Central High School in 1979, where he was senior class president, played quarterback for the Maroons, was in the casts of school musicals "South Pacific" and "Guys and Dolls," was elected to Boys' State, and was a National Merit Scholar. At Montana Boys' State, he was elected Montana's representative to Boys' Nation in Washington, D.C.
Jim won an appointment to the Military Academy at West Point, but chose instead to attend Carroll College to follow in the medical footsteps of his father and grandfather, both surgeons. Jim was elected student body president at Carroll and chosen by his classmates as their graduation speaker.
He attended medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle; then did his internships and residency in anesthesiology at the Oregon Health Sciences Institute in Portland, where he gained national recognition for his research in pain management.
Jim married Gail Havery, a classmate from Carroll College, during medical school and, upon achieving his board certification in anesthesiology, Jim and Gail moved to Great Falls, where Jim undertook his professional career, and Riley James Staples, their son, was born in 1999.
Jim loved playing golf and tennis, skiing and watching all sports, particularly the Maroons, the Saints, the Washington Huskies, the Griz and the New York Jets. He loved his friends, travel, convertibles, music (sometimes the louder the better), paddling in his pool, his patients, and his profession, but most of all he loved his Catholic faith, his family and especially his son, Riley, who was without exaggeration the light of his life.
Jim is survived by his son, Riley, and Gail Staples; his mother, Jane Staples; his sister, Sally Staples and her son Nick; his brothers Dan, Steve and Tom (Laurel) and their children Jack, Sean and Madeline, and Mark (Kimberly) and their children Lance and Desiree.
Jim was a uniquely well-rounded person. He was smart, studious, disciplined, professional and accomplished. In his prime, he was superbly athletic. He was also spontaneous, creative, thoughtful, generous, kind, loyal, major-league funny, loving and lovable. Jim was a man rich in all but years, and his family and friends were in turn immeasurably enriched by his sparkling life.
The family requests that any memorials in Jim's name be sent to: Dr. James Staples Memorial Education Fund, c/o P.O. Box 1018, Helena, MT 59624-1018.
Condolences and remembrances will be welcomed by the family at Staplesmt@gmail.com.
Condolences may be posted online at www.gftribune.com/obituaries.