James Bolding

1943 - 2023

James Bolding

June 11, 1943 - January 20, 2023

HARDY, Va.

James Wesley Bolding, 79, of the Gravel Hill Road Community of Hardy, passed away peacefully, Friday, January 20, 2023.

He was born sixth of the ten children of William Livious Bolding and Lydia Anne Conley Bolding on June 11, 1943. Brothers and Sisters, Tommy, Billy, Johnny, Martha, Dixie, Virginia, Buddy, Elaine and Mary. He was a 1963 Honor Graduate of Stewartsville High School, where he was voted "Most Likely To Succeed." He was a Vietnam Era Army Medic, and after service earned a degree in Geology from Colorado State University. He worked as a geologist at the Climax molybdenum mine in the Rocky Mountains, extracting ore used to strengthen and harden steel alloys for high-stress engine parts, and precision drills and saws before returning East to care for his aging mother at his boyhood home. Jimmy was a natural-born chemist, astronomer, mathematician, naturalist and one widely famous for his argumentative nature. Boyhood friends, the Huffs, Clarks, Bushes, Feazells, Patsells schoolmates, family members, and colleagues, throughout his life marveled at both his brilliance and his readiness to argue with a stump! While he was raised in a Christian family, he came to view our creator from a more scientific perspective. His greatest loves were his countless scientific books, his voracious appetite, and most of all, his dozen pet chickens. Yes, Jimmy was a rare bird!

He will be warmly remembered by all who knew him for his confounding stubbornness always to be unapologetically right, but equally for his steadfast willingness to help anyone at any time who needed him. His family will gather to celebrate his life later in the Spring.