James A. Lima

Bud was born in Oakland, California on the 15th of November, 1924, to James B. Lima and Annie Koch

Lima. In 1926, the family moved to Livermore, where he lived until his graduation from Livermore High

School. While at Livermore High, he met his childhood sweetheart, Virginia Mae Harville. Bud and

Virginia both attended the University of California at Berkeley for a short time before Bud was called to

active duty in World War II. Bud’s Signal Corps training included attending Electrical Engineering

classes at M.I.T. and Army Signal Corp training at Camp Crowder, Missouri. While at Camp Crowder

Bud and Virginia decided to get married in August of 1944, shortly before he was sent to the Hawaiian

Islands to operate a radio station on top of Mount Haleakala as a staff sergeant.

In January 1946, Bud was discharged from the Army. With the help of a G.I. loan Bud and Virginia

bought their first home in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. Bud worked for his father, running first the

old Willow Glen Theater and then their brand new Garden Theater. During this time, they had three

children, Paul, Nancy and David. While managing the Garden Theater, Bud attended San Jose State

part time. He then became a full-time student when Virginia began her first full time teaching job. Bud

eventually earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering at San Jose State.

He then was hired by IBM while also teaching part time at San Jose State. He soon rose to the rank of

Assistant Professor there. He later took classes at Stanford University part time. When he was given a

fellowship, he went full time and was able to complete his degree of Electrical Engineer, which is similar

to the PhD. He graduated from Stanford in June of 1968 in the same ceremony with his son Paul who

received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. This made history at Stanford as it was the first

time a father and son had graduated from the same department at the same time. The story was

featured in the San Jose Mercury.

Soon after, Bud went back to San Jose State as a full professor and Associate Dean for academic

affairs. He helped form a new department called Computer Engineering. Bud became its Chairman the

year before he retired in 1988. Bud and Virginia enjoyed spending the next fifteen years of their

retirement traveling and fishing their way around the United States and Canada with their travel trailer.

Bud loved hunting and fishing and took great joy in both nature and conservation. He taught firearm

safety and loved taking friends and family, including his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, on

outings.

Bud’s beloved Virginia passed away in 2003 after 59 years of marriage. He is survived by his three

children and their spouses: Paul and Mary Lima, Nancy and Peter Coronato, and David and Bettsy

Lima, six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

We are profoundly grateful for the loving care provided by Nora, Elvie, Helen and Joseph during Bud’s

final days.

Friends are invited to join his family for a Celebration of Bud’s Life at the Three Flames Restaurant

(1547 Meridian Avenue in Willow Glen) on Saturday, February 23rd at 1:00PM.