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James Sopczyk Obituary
Jim was born in Minneapolis, MN and graduated from Osseo High School in 1965. Following graduation, he joined the Army and served as a Chief Warrant Officer. He served three years flying helicopters in the Vietnam war. Afterwards he served in the Army Reserves for five years.
In 1980, he married Claudia Lindberg in St. Paul, MN. They were married for 40 years and lived in Spring, TX. Jim was crushed when Claudia passed away in 2020.
Jim had a variety of bee related jobs in his lifetime, from owning a bee supply company, owning a pest control company focusing on bee control, to being a distributor of honey. His hobby was collecting antique and unique wrenches, proudly accumulating thousands.
Jim enjoyed a quiet, respectful, and simple life. He was a kindhearted, honorable man and he will be missed.
Jim is survived by his sister, Jeanne Morgan and her husband Gareth of Burnsville, MN; his niece and Goddaughter, Kari Rogers and her husband Dan; his great-nephew Nathan Rogers of Eagan, MN; his uncle, Stanley Sopczyk of Carlsbad, CA; his cousins, Andrew Sopczyk of Carlsbad, CA, Tom Sopczyk of Prior Lake, MN, and Jerry Smuda of Door County, WI.
A private memorial service will be held in Minnesota.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Memorial Funeral Home in Edinburg.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for James Sopczyk
2 Entries
Angel Villanueva
August 17, 2025
A good friend that would join us to Breakfast everything he was down here. Will be missed. I bought old tools from him several times.
Call me if you all are selling them.
Angel
956-457-4356
Rod Santa Ana
August 17, 2025
I'm broken-hearted to hear of my good friend Jim's passing. He came to mind a couple weeks ago while I was on a family vacation, and decided to call him upon my return to McAllen.
I shouldn't have waited.
I met Jim many years ago during the heyday of the arrival here in the Valley of the Africanized honeybee.
My whole family knew Jim as "The Bee Guy."
He and I shared many good times and many laughs, usually over a good meal in Weslaco.
But he also came to my house many times, once after he'd taken a horrible fall from the side of a barn while chasing bees.
He showed up at my front door injured from head to toe and innocently said he didn't know where to go for treatment.
In a panick, I urged him to go to the emergency room immediately, which he did. Later with my wife's help, we found a good local doctor who continued his treatments until he finally healed.
He'd pop up at my house unannounced, which always led to great times and conversations. He knew he was always welcome here.
I'm sorry I didn't reach out to you when you came to mind Jim. I'll forever regret that.
Thank you for your three-year service to our country as a wartime military pilot during the Vietnam war.
For the kind-hearted Jim, those must have been horrible years for him.
As Jim would say at the end of each of our many meals together, "Alrighty, I better get a-running."
Rest in peace, Buddy.
Rod Santa Ana III
McAllen
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