Jim Christiansen of Silverton died in his home, surrounded by his loving family, on July 21, 2023. He was 82 years old. Jim was born in
New Rochelle, New York to Hans and Helene Christiansen on March 21, 1941. When Jim was 2 years old, his family, including older brother John, moved to Oregon. His father later opened a meat market in Molalla, where Jim and his younger brothers, Lee and Bobby, would work during the weekends of their teenage years.
A passionate gravitation toward art, music, and leadership activities characterized Jim's youth and foreshadowed his lifelong ambitions. A Star Scout who filled his Future Farmers of America handbook with irreverent cartoons, Jim found himself heavily influenced by the Rock and Roll pioneers of the 1950s. He began playing guitar at age 17.
Jim graduated from Molalla High School in 1959 after lettering in track and wrestling. He moved to California, where he became a firefighter and studied journalism at Sacramento City College. Finding himself to be a vocalist of unusual range and talent, Jim founded the folk group, "Chris and the Sundowners." They recorded their first single in Hollywood in 1962. Soon after, he met and married his first wife, Pat. Their daughter Kara was born a year later, in 1964. He toured the Pacific Northwest with another folk group, "The Shaggy Gorillas Minus One Buffalo Fish" in mid-60s. After re-settling in the Willamette Valley, Jim married his second wife, Marj in 1969. They had two children: John in 1972 and Alison in 1975. Jim attended Mt. Angel College in the early 1970s and earned a degree in art. His musical career continued into the 1970s and eventually blossomed into the successful rockabilly band, "The Dukes of Juke," a tribute to Buddy Holly and other Rock and Roll pioneers. They produced their first album in 1981 and toured the Pacific Northwest into the 1990s. In the mid-90s, Jim reunited with the former bass player of the Shaggy Gorillas and formed "Jim-n-Alan," a folk duo who cut many albums and toured the Pacific Northwest well into the 21st century. Jim spent the last two decades of his life doing what he loved most: playing music, petting dogs, brewing beer, petting dogs, petting dogs, and taking long trips into the Great West with his family. And petting dogs.
He is survived by Marj, his beloved wife of 54 years, his brother Lee, two daughters, a son, two nieces, and six grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Oregon Humane Society at https://www.oregonhumane.org/ or the Jeremy Wilson Foundation at https://www.thejwf.org/.
Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, July 31st at St. Paul's Church at 1410 Pine Street in Silverton (rosary optional at 10:30 a.m.), with a luncheon following the service in Church Hall