| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010 9:41 am |
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Local News 
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Proud union member and veteran had a wild side Longshoreman and Army veteran, rodeo roper and Harley rider, wild man and family man, Jamie Boland did it all and then some.“That man could do everything. He was just unbelievable,” said his daughter, Teresa Boland-Snow. “Jamie was a great union man. He never shied away from a job,” said Gig Larson, a friend and longtime member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 32 who worked with Boland on the Everett waterfront. “He loved Everett, and was a union man with his last breath,” said Boland's widow, J'Nene Boland. “He was the nicest man in the whole wide world. He had the most beautiful smile.” James “Jamie” Boland died Oct. 19 at his Machias home after battling cancer for more than a year. He was 73. He was born May 17, 1936, to Leonard and Florence Boland in Sherman, S.D. His native state would later lure him back on motorcycle pilgrimages to Sturgis. During World War II, his father's Navy duty brought the family to the Everett area. He attended Mukilteo's old Rosehill School. His formal education ended after eighth grade, J'Nene Boland said. In 1952 at age 16, Boland enlisted in the Army. After basic training, he went to jump school at Fort Benning, Ga. He later joined the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, and served in Japan and Korea before returning to Fort Benning as a jump instructor. After retiring from longshore work, Boland became active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2100 in Everett, and was its commander from 2000 to 2007. “He was head of the whole place,” Boland-Snow said. “If they needed to change a light bulb, they called my dad. The VFW was quite a family, and still is.” Rick Burke, Jamie Boland's friend and fellow VFW member, said that together they worked in the VFW parking lot during events at Comcast Arena, raising money for veterans in need. “He was very caring, caring to a fault,” Burke said. Boland-Snow said she joined the Army because of her father's influence. “I wasn't Airborne, but I am planning my first skydive this summer in honor of our dad,” she said. Boland was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Shane. He is survived by his wife J'Nene; daughter Teresa Boland-Snow and her husband, Steve; daughter Cheryl Kidder; sister Phyllis Sansavor; brother Les Boland; and many other family members. When Jamie Boland met J'Nene, he had been married before, more than once. Her father, Harry Staeheli, and uncle, Tony Dire, had owned the Flying A service station near the Everett waterfront, and Boland had worked there for a time. “He and I immediately clicked. He had quite a wild side,” J'Nene Boland quipped. “Thank God when I married him it had subsided a little bit.” They met in 1980 and married in 1986. In his early years, before becoming a longshoreman, Boland worked on tugboats. In his teens, he'd been a boxer. He was also a sprint-car racer in Skagit County, and had done team roping at the Ellensburg Rodeo and Omak Stampede. “He did a lot of macho stuff in all his years. And he always had motorcycles in his life,” J'Nene Boland said. Together, they took long trips on Jamie Boland's 1988 Harley-Davidson Softail. They rode to California, Reno, Nev., and in 2000 to Sturgis, S.D., a motorcycle mecca. “It was a jaw-dropping experience,” she said, adding that her husband's Harley friends included biker gang members, longshoremen and hunting and fishing buddies. Gig Larson said that at work on the docks, Boland was “a great crane driver, a good machinery operator and a Mr. Fix-It.” “If you had a personal problem, he'd always be there,” Larson said. In Machias, Boland opened his own cycle repair shop, Jamie's Harleys. “He would work on people's bikes but wouldn't take any money,” Larson said. Today, Boland-Snow lives on property she bought from her father near his home. “I was close to my dad all my life,” she said. “He was married a couple of times and had a few families over the years, but he was always there. He made sure we had what we needed. “He was quite a mentor. He taught us everything — how to ride horses, how to ride motorcycles, how to work on cars. He would take anybody under his wing,” Boland-Snow said. “I look forward to trying to follow in his footsteps.” A potluck celebration of his life is planned for at 2 p.m. Saturday at the VFW Post 2100, 2711 Oakes Ave., Everett. Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com. |
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