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CJ Wires Obituary
CJ loved music and was a talented guitar player, he loved woodworking, he loved camping and visiting the National Parks of the West. He was so tender-heartedly attached to his dog that he could never get another dog after Beau died. He played beach volleyball and took his family on many glorious vacations to California beaches to watch pro beach volleyball tourneys. He bought a Harley and he and his wife took many memorable motorcycle trips. After he retired, he began designing and building amazing acoustic and electric guitars. He was adventurous; disciplined, hard-working, and smart; artistic and creative; driven; a rebel.
He was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on October 7th, and he died on October 19th. He is survived by his wife, son, daughter, and siblings, Peg Bogle, Karen Stroude, Gary Wires, Christine Fry. He will be terribly missed.
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2969 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO 80303
People and places connected with CJ
Recent Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
Dawn Taylor
January 3, 2023
I wonder why you care so much about me --- no, I don't wonder. I only accept it as the thing at the back of all one's life that makes everything bearable and possible.
(quote from Gertrude Bell)
CJ gave me that and I will always be grateful.
Kevin Schwarckopf
December 27, 2022
I just found out about CJ, and it came as such a surprise. I went to Graduate school in Architecture with CJ, and we kept in touch via Christmas cards for the last 37 years. He was always larger than life and a true friend. It is hard to believe he is not here anymore. My deepest condolences to Dawn and the family. He will be missed.
Christine
December 4, 2022
Sadly, I don't have a lot memories about my brother, CJ. He went to college when I was only 8. Our family moved to OH (from KY) a year later, and CJ ("Jim") stayed in KY. I was still a child. He was a young adult. From that point on, our encounters were limited to brief visits over the holidays or at family reunions, weddings and funerals.
My late husband, Joe, and I visited CJ and Dawn's first home in Boulder when we moved to CA in 1987, and I came to appreciate his many talents. It seemed to me he could do anything he put his mind to. Just like our dad. I didn't know CJ well, but it seemed to me that he was like our dad in other ways, too...and thus, we had that in common.
When Joe died in 2006, CJ came out to the funeral to support us, which meant a lot. The following year over Christmas break, the girls and I flew to CO. We saw all the amazing work he had done on their house, and again I marveled at his talents. We all went cross-country skiing together and the kids had fun. CJ was very quiet that day and I didn't know why. People are complicated.
Over the years, I always called CJ on his birthday. To be honest, I didn't always know what to say. But it was from these conversations that I grew to know him better. We talked about his home improvements, his trips, and the family. Sometimes we would touch on issues that we saw differently. CJ and I had another thing in common: we were both passionate about things we cared about.
Other memories that I have: After we moved to Ohio when I was 9, Mom lost contact with CJ. She was so worried. I can only imagine how hard that must have been for her. She finally just drove to KY to search for him--and she found him! When CJ met Dawn, he was so happy! They lived together for awhile, and I very much wanted them to get married, so I talked to Dawn about the value of marriage at our kitchen table in Wooster. I was probably 14 or 15. Clearly, I convinced her...because she and CJ did get married! Ha. When Jake was born, Dad put a sign in our front yard. After 5 kids and 10 grandkids, Jake turned out to be the first and ONLY namesake! (NO pressure, Jake and Lane.) I remember watching CJ and Dawn dance together at our wedding reception, with their eyes closed, slowly moving together--so much in love. It was beautiful. Once, on a family reunion, Aunt Rose made a comment to CJ that he was a lot like his dad and CJ did not respond. It was one of those moments I'll never forget. I remember one birthday call when CJ was touchingly open and honest with me about his concerns for Nicole who was in Chiapas (as I recall). He feared for her life, and I didn't have any words to help him. My faith was not his. I felt inadequate. I prayed.
And that is what I do now. I pray for CJ, that he is at peace. And I pray for Dawn, Jake and Nicole that they may find comfort in their memories and in each other in the days ahead.
CJ - I love you. I didn't know you well. But someday, we will pick up where we left off. That is my faith. ox
Gary Wires
November 23, 2022
CJ was my older brother and my only brother. Growing up, he was Jim to me. He taught me things that only older a brother can do. Like how to defend myself when bullies or upper classmen picked on me as is usually the case while going to school. He also taught me how to do algebra, you know those nasty word problems where you have to setup equations and solve for "x". He taught me how to play sports, especially baseball and of course basketball which is my favorite sport which we picked up when living in Lexington KY during the Adolph Rupp years at UK. Jim attended and played sports at Bryan Station High School. Several great athletes came out that school during his time there to play sports on teams like the UK Wildcats, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Eagles. I loved going to his games at Bryan Station.
Like most brothers do, we did bad things together too that most young boys shouldn´t do but do anyway. Like smoking cigarettes while paging through dirty magazines like Playboy and Penthouse. We had lots of fun and enjoyed lots of laughs together. I looked up to him and always wanted to hang out with him and go where he went. Not long after Jim left home at about the age of 18, our family moved from Lexington to Wooster Ohio. Several years followed where we did not see much of each other. When I graduated from college in Ohio, I moved to Dallas, TX. CJ and Dawn lived in Boulder CO then and would invite me to spend 4-5 days during the Christmas holidays with them. CJ and I would go snow skiing at least a couple times; we started at Eldora close to Boulder them migrated to ski resorts around the Arapahoe Basin. He was a much better skier than I, but it´s there where I really learned how to snow ski.
I moved from Dallas to Chicago around 1987. Being in Chicago I was closer to our parents who I began sending Christmas and holidays with them since CJ and Dawn were parents and had their own children (Jake and Nicole) now to consider. Our days of gallivanting around like when we were kids seemed to be over and we had to be adults then.
I´ll will miss you brother and will always remember the times we shared together as brothers. Godspeed brother and rest in peace, pain-free forever. I love you. (P.S. Mom taught me to say those words when saying good-bye and I try to use them with my siblings.)
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Kate Marshall
November 19, 2022
I am so sorry for your loss. Cj was a brilliant iconoclast with an eye for detail and beauty. His wry humor combined irony and satire, a rare quality. He is deeply missed.
Peg
November 16, 2022
Peg
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Peg
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Peg
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Peg
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Peg
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Peg
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Peg
November 16, 2022
Just a few photos of some of CJ`s beautiful work in his home
IreneI Rodriguez
November 15, 2022
I first met CJ when Nicole and Elane were in gymnastics when they were little. Later I would see him and Dawn at gymnastics meets through middle and then high school.
I remember one time when he defended Nicole against a teacher at Burbank who shouldn't have been in that role. I could see how much he loved Nicole.
Nicole is a testament to what a wonderful man and father he was.
The last time I saw him was one morning when I was picking up some chickens down the street from them and I saw him and Dawn having breakfast with friends by the front window so there I was stopping by unannounced at 7 in the morning!
Thank you always for your friendship and to Nicolee for the dear friend she is to Elane.
Tom Thomas
November 15, 2022
Like many others, we're still coming to terms with CJ's death.
Being in the Wires home after the service provided a stunning reminder of CJ's extraordinary talent as a master craftsman in construction. His designs in architecture, construction, wood working and his remarkable talent as a luithier defy description. All of his works in the Taylor Wires home have to be seen to be fully appreciated.
The Cathedral of Saint Paul's in London is also the grave site of Christopher Wren, the architect who created the cathedral. The inscription on his tomb reads, "If you seek his monument, look around you."
Although at a substantially smaller scale, the same can be said of the Wires home. It is an exquisite memorial to an extraordinary talent.
Christine Scanlan
November 15, 2022
When you visit CJ and Dawn's home it is more than striking how much the two of them built together - their family, their home and all of the interests they shared. Nicole and Jake are a testament to the dedication and love they poured into their family life. It's inspiring to see and we'll miss his curiosity, expertise, and quiet genius. It is a fortunate man who is so widely loved and admired by so many friends and family.
We will miss you.
Chris Scanlan
jake
November 15, 2022
for as far back as i can remember, my dad´s been the strongest person i´ve known. maybe it´s that way for everyone when they´re young and the world is still so inconceivably big. it certainly was for me when i was little, and i´d hang from his arm as he flexed his biceps, and he seemed invincible. but somehow in my mind he never stopped being that way, even as i grew up and the world grew smaller.
so it was a shock to see him laid out in a hospital bed after a round of chemo had pushed him to the brink of death, surrounded by dozens of machines working around the clock to keep him alive. it was clearly him in that bed, and yet at the same time it wasn´t him - still fighting, but so helpless. i´d seen him take losses before, but i´d never seen him really beaten, and seeing him in that bed, i couldn´t help but ask myself: what does it mean to be strong when your strength can be taken away from you so easily?
looking back on our lives, though, i can see that this question misses the mark: his strength wasn´t something that was taken from him - it was something he gave to us. not only in the way that he made us all feel safe and protected and how he made sure we knew that no matter what happened, he´d have our back (and there´s nobody i´d rather have in my corner when things get tough), but also in the lessons he imparted on us, the ethic he instilled in us, the way of living he showed us.
from simple things like his routine of getting up at dawn to go to the gym, to his habit of quizzing us at the dinner table about what we´d done that day a week or month prior (an exercise that will make you appreciate how fleeting memories can be if you´re not careful), to his connection to the physical world - his love for camping, his propensity for being outdoors in all types of weather (he said that we lose something profound by insulating ourselves from the elements all the time), to his skill with his hands, and especially his skill in woodworking, to his talent for hard work (yes, as kasparov says, "hard work is a talent. the ability to keep trying when others give up is a talent."): through the example of his own life he showed us how to be self-reliant, how to think critically, how to face adversity. he taught us to have the strength to live our lives the way we want, without worrying about what other people think. he even taught our excitable dog beau - "the bopular one," as he styled him - the discipline to wait patiently before pouncing on the treats placed just out of reach after his nightly walks.
he also showed us that strength of will can be applied in unexpected ways. i remember one night a long time ago when we were just sitting around the house. the mood was sombre for some reason i no longer recall - likely some minor disappointment that in the moment felt overwhelming. he came into the room and picked up a camera that was lying nearby, and out of the blue, he started taking selfies with my sister. this was before selfie sticks were a thing, well before instagram filters, when taking random photos of yourself for no particular reason was still something of a novelty. he snapped one, and then another, and then a few more, changing the angle just so, trying different poses, checking the effect of each variation. soon enough they were both making faces and laughing at the results, laughing at themselves, laughing at the entire situation, and the mood was completely transformed. to be honest i can´t really explain why this night stands out to me the way it does. it wasn´t at all consequential in the grand scheme of things. but it was kind of magical nonetheless, the way he expanded to fill the whole world, displacing our melancholy by sheer force of will.
and for me this was one of his most inspiring gifts, this strength of will, both as he applied it himself and as he passed it on to us. and i´m grateful for it, and grateful for all the moments he shared with us, and grateful to have had him as my father. he will be missed.
Lane
November 14, 2022
Jake and I share many stories of our families. He always spoke highly of his dad...how he was always working on their childhood home, from the inside and out. His guitars were beautiful and a dream to play. He was special in that his contributions to the world are so very visible. I´m so sorry for your loss of a kind and brave soul.
Karen
November 14, 2022
Dear Dawn, Jake, and Nicole:
I am so very sorry for your loss! In these first days and weeks after losing the love of your life and your Dad, I can only imagine the hole you must feel in your hearts. While I am grateful for his sake and for yours that his illness was brief, I know that it came as a shock that must still have you reeling. I am so very glad Greg and I were able to visit with you and CJ last summer in your beautiful home and see firsthand his stunning craftsmanship throughout. I pray you will find comfort in knowing how much he loved you all and how very proud he was of his family. God bless you, CJ! Love, Karen
Tim Harlan-Marks
November 14, 2022
I am grateful to have known CJ in this life, and I am still in shock that he's no longer with us. He was an unparalleled craftsman, a devoted husband and father, a visionary thinker, a radical truth teller, a lifelong learner. I admire him greatly for these qualities, and regret that I didn't have the opportunity to get to know him more deeply before his unexpected and untimely passing. I feel blessed to get to witness so closely his legacy as it lives on in Nicole. You will be missed, CJ. May you be at peace.
Anna (Stevens) Royal
November 14, 2022
CJ was such a fixture of my childhood. Nicole and I spent many, many days walking to and from school together, countless sleepovers, and play dates, and CJ was always there. He was always present for Nicole and the entire family. He made us kids feel welcome and supported. He was such a stalwart family man, and his legacy lives on in his two amazing children.
Patrick Scanlan
November 14, 2022
CJ was a man who held strong opinions and he backed them up with his confidence in himself and his accomplishments. His woodworking was sublime and a way of life for him. He was a very private person and a highly accomplished one in his pursuits. He excelled in whatever he took on, lately that being his music and guitar making. He also had a love of traveling and had been traveling the west in his and Dawn´s RV. He had many more paths to go down, that´s for sure, as he was a thinking man and had a lot he wanted to accomplish. We all have a chance to reinvent ourselves and Jim was doing just that and he will be missed most by Dawn, Nicole and Jake. Gone too soon, but a good legacy left behind.
Jensen Hanyak
November 14, 2022
As one of Nicole´s best friends from gymnastics, I was often at Nicole´s house for sleepovers, dinners, and plenty of Alias viewings. I have many fond memories of CJ from these times, most notably when he showed me a guitar he was building. I was an aspiring guitar player at the time and was nothing short of astounded that he had made such a beautiful guitar. I particularly loved the abalone along the neck of the guitar. Stunning.
I also loved spending a day cross country skiing in keystone with Nicole, Dawn, and CJ. I had downhill skied all my life, but never cross country skied at a resort at that time. So sweet of CJ and Dawn to take me along.
I continue to send my deepest condolences and best wishes to the Wires family. Lots of love!
Jensen Hanyak
November 14, 2022
As one of Nicole´s best friends from gymnastics, I was often at Nicole´s house for sleepovers, dinners, and plenty of Alias viewings. I have many fond memories of CJ from these times, most notably when he showed me a guitar he was building. I was an aspiring guitar player at the time and was nothing short of astounded that he had made such a beautiful guitar. I particularly loved the abalone along the neck of the guitar. Stunning.
I also loved spending a day cross country skiing in keystone with Nicole, Dawn, and CJ. I had downhill skied all my life, but never cross country skied at a resort at that time. So sweet of CJ and Dawn to take me along.
I continue to send my deepest condolences and best wishes to the Wires family. Lots of love!
Sue & Bob Parkhurst
November 14, 2022
CJ always amazed me with his talent and energy! He didn´t do anything halfway, whether it was woodworking, building the most beautiful guitars or remodeling their homes. CJ and Dawn were so proud of their children and visited them often. I will miss him and sharing travel stories with him which were many!
Peg
November 14, 2022
I miss my brother CJ so much. It´s hard for me to believe I´m not going to be seeing him at future, family, gatherings or talking to him on the phone for long interesting conversations or hearing about the projects he´s working on like yet another guitar that is unique. Many of my very earliest memories include my little brother Jimmy, who was two years younger than me. There was many a rainy day or a time when neither one of us had a friend to go play with where we would hang out in our house, making up a little games, like one we called `sneakaday´ where we´d sneak around the house, pretending like we were completely invisible to our parents, whispering to each other and writing down notes in our little notebooks as we spied on our parents. We were quite imaginative in these games. They were also the times we used our Morse code pads that her dad had made for us to communicate big secrets.
Years later, when we were probably in her 30s, we reconnected as adults and found lots of common ground in our values, our memories of growing up and our children. It´s very hard and painful and sad to lose my younger brother. I am very grateful that we were all together as a Wires family in April for Charlie´s memorial and that CJ and all his family were here together for that event. It made him so happy to be with his children And we talked about that later. He loved them so much.
Dawn was the love of his life, his rudder, his north pole. I am so grateful, Dawn, that you´re part of our family. Thank you for loving CJ so very much.
I love you CJ and I miss you so much.
Nicole Wires
November 14, 2022
my dad never wanted to die in the hospital, in fact, he never wanted to spend a single moment in one. it was a harrowing and haunting twelve days by his side. in the end, he was brave and dignified about his choice. he was ready to go, and he gave us the great gift of his clarity.
my dad was brilliant and creative. he could fix anything. he had a keen and artistic eye. he built my entire house, while we lived in it, remodeling one room at a time. the house is perfect, and just how he wanted it. every aspect of it has his hands and vision all over it. after retiring, my dad taught himself how to build guitars, and built one after the next gorgeous acoustic and electric guitar. he left with four unfinished guitars, including one we were building together.
he loved road trips, taking the scenic route, and being in the mountains. he loved camping. he loved my mom fiercely. he loved us all fiercely. during the pandemic, my parents bought an RV, and they got to take six long trips together all over the country, seeing the blue ridge mountains, lake michigan, wyoming, new mexico, and big bend. even after seeing all those beautiful places, he always returned home and said colorado was the most beautiful of all. you can see where i get that.
toward the end of his life, my dad suffered from debilitating chronic pain. i suspect he had some undiagnosed illness, likely a precursor to the acute myeloid leukemia that he was diagnosed with just twelve days before dying. i am so grateful he is no longer suffering, and as i pore over pictures of him from earlier times, i realize how long ago i lost that sarcastic, funny, adventurous, disciplined and extremely hard working person to his pain. i wish i could have him back.
for some reason, i keep thinking about an interview i read years ago about an ethologist who lived among mule deers for nine years. he said that mule deer communities have deep rituals around death and grieving, and when a herd loses a matriarch too soon they are lost; they can't find their winter feeding grounds. they return to the site of the death and bed down in the earth, mourning their lost loved one. there is some mammal part of me that will be circling around the tender territory of these last twelve days for years, seeking to bed down into the earth in search of my dad.
thank you to each of you who sent messages of love throughout this impossible time. those were the small winds that carried me through long, terrifying days.
may my dad's guitars continue to make music for years to come; music that brings joy, freedom, and ease to all those who hear it.
i miss you dad.
<3
nic
Billy Gill
November 8, 2022
Karen,
Thank you for sharing Jimmy´s Obit. I loved him my entire life, as well as your family.
Our early years as children are foundational in family relationships. All you Wires kids are forever in my heart - as are the memories we shared with Grandma O´Donnell´s holiday gatherings. Jimmy and I were inseparable - gravitating to each other in those early years. We were mischievous - throwing tomatoes over the fence at the pretty neighbor girls in the wooded lot next door to grandma O. D´s house on sleep overs we shared together. We ventured on many trips together - meeting up on our bikes exploring the wonders of the woods and Rocky River in the Valley ( Metro Parks). Making camp fires along the river in the days it was permitted.
Discovering a bow and arrow´s trajectory - following an arrow almost 200 yards plunge into the ground a few feet from a couple lying in the sun in an open field. I´ve no doubt we broke Jessie Owens track record as ran to the woods in the great escape. Never shot that old bow again - but still have it and the memory of that day.
Carol and I married in 2014. She has 2 adult daughters and grandchildren in Fort Collins CO. When I drive to Colorado for her visit - I would gravitate to Boulder to meet up with my Jimmy Wires and reminisce of our times together.
My last visit September 21´,,,,I never thought to be the last.
I loved - and love Jimmy Wires.
Glenn mcclelland
November 6, 2022
I knew jim from the ninth grade. I loved him too. I knew dawn also and could plainly see how she loved him.
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