James Russell Mason Jr.

On Friday, May 26, James Russell Mason Jr. passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife and daughters, and returned back to the twinkling stars from which he came. During his time with us here on earth, he brightly lit the way for his family for 86 well-lived years.

James Russell Mason was born a man of luck and coincidence in Ironwood, Michigan, on January 17, 1937. Arriving on the same day at the same hospital as his cousin, also named James, newspaper stories announcing the twin cousin's births sealed his fate as a local legend from the very beginning. Jimmy, the first of four children born to James Russell Mason and Luella Mason (Treloar), was a homegrown product of the Upper Peninsula, an outdoor-loving boy who could be found fishing lakes and streams and hunting with his father and his cousin Jimmy Dell at the camp house on Lake Gogebic. In tune with animals and nature, he landed in the newspaper for the second time while sporting a pet crow on his shoulder that he had rescued and trained. In his teenage years, he was an expert skier who worked on the local ski patrol at the local ski hill and an ice skater who could show up his friends with impressive jumps and turns. He was fearless, and his bold, competitive spirit soared, literally, when he took up ski-jumping.

He graduated from Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood, Michigan in 1955, after which he went to work with his father as part of Mason’s Refrigeration and then went to work in the Iron Ore mine before joining the navy. At age 21, he married his sweetheart, Annette Ojala.He liked to tell the story of how he first met little Netsy from neighboring Bessemer, Michigan while playing kick-the-can.

In the Navy, Jim went to Japan and Korea and was stationed in Alameda, and Long Beach, CA. Their first daughter, Renee was born on March 14, 1959, in Long Beach where Jim and Annette settled after finishing his term of service. Jim followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps in the air-conditioning, electrical, and heating business. After the birth of their second daughter, Annissa, Jim moved their new house, a model home from Mission Viejo which he later rebuilt by hand, onto the property of the site of a former orange grove on Rogers Drive in Orange Park Acres in 1971 – their family home for 52 years. In 1979, Jaimee, the baby of the family, was born.

Jim was a proud father of three daughters. He shared his love for hiking, fishing, and camping with his girls and cheered them on proudly through all of their individual endeavors, always reminding them that “they could do anything a man could do and if they could dream it, they could do it.” The latter motto is one he followed throughout his own life, building homes, barns, several snowmobiles, a boat, and an office out of a shipping container, to name a few of his undertakings.

In Orange Park Acres, Jim lived his dream as a cowboy farmer, building his barns, growing vegetables for a few years, and sharing his pastoral domain with pet dogs, cats, horses, 4-H pigs, chickens, an angry goose, parakeets, a pygmy goat named Jeremy, and most recently his grandkid’s sheep. After being electrocuted on the job, Jim went into the John Deere tractor business for several years before going back to air conditioning and later working for the Garden Grove School District. Always busy learning and trying his hand at new endeavors, Jim took community college classes, earned his pilot’s license, obtained his real estate and broker’s license, invested in rental properties, taught school, restored vintage cars and tractors, and eagerly shared his vast array of knowledge with his neighbors and friends. He was a jack of all trades and master of many. There was always something new to invent, and he could be found most days in his “office” in the barn making plans for his next big project.

After retirement, Jim worked on his properties and those of his kids, building and teaching his daughters and sons-in-law all of his tricks of the trade. He doted on his grandkids, building their pinewood derby cars, puppet theater, outdoor stage, 4-H barns, and more. Throughout his life, he was a lover of music and theater, and Jim was quite a dancer with smooth footwork and a swinging rhythm. When he took the dance floor with his wife, Annette, all eyes were on them. Father daughter wedding dances were always an epic event.

There is so much more to say about Jim, he charmed almost everyone he met with his earnest and frank midwestern demeanor. His family was endlessly entertained by the story of his legendary encounter with Bigfoot and the many adventures of his life. He truly loved his family, as they did him. Jim lived his life the way he wanted to, in a way that only he could do.

He will be eternally missed.

James Mason Jr. leaves behind the love of his life and his favorite dance partner, his wife of 65 years. Annette Mason (Ojala), daughters Renee Reynolds (Greg), Annissa Mason Doumitt (Robert), Jaimee Rojas (Rafael), grandchildren Morgan Reynolds, Mason Reynolds (Diana), Maitlyn Reynolds, Ella Rojas, Emery Doumitt, Layla Rojas, and great-grandchild, Russell Reynolds, siblings Craig Mason and Bonnie Noonan. He is predeceased by his parents, James and Luella Mason, and his sister, Marsha Miller.