Walter "Jim" Rendell III's Obituary
Walter (Jim) James Rendell III born on February 27, 1939 in Brawley California to Walter and Tillie Rendell. Jim passed away on April 17, 2019 at home after a long, strong and courageous fight with Cancer and Asbestosis. Preceded in death was his wife of 44 years Jan Rendell, sister, Barbara Stubblefield and brother Everett Scotton.
Jim is survived by 9 children. Cindy Farris, Jim Rendell IV, Carl Rendell, Scott Shirley, Sheri Cox, Stacey Shirley, Joe Rendell, Brandon Staton, and Shawna Loomis. His sisters Joyce Brown and Louise Saldana also survive him.
Jim was a family man that loved his family and many extended family members. He was a loyal and dedicated husband, and was a father that instilled respect, discipline, work ethic and family values in his children. Dad was always proud of his 9 kids, 19 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren that he adored.
Jim was a proud member of the ILWU, he started his longshoremen career in Stockton California at local 54 and transferred to Tacoma local 23 in 1970 where he retired in 2004.
Jim was a man with many loves and interests. For many of his younger days he was very active in little league and coached Jimmy and Carl from the Farm league to the Majors. He taught his kids the love of baseball, fishing, camping, and later motorcycles. Jim loved to hunt and he often took his kids along to carry the burlap sack that carried the unfortunate birds that didn’t fly fast enough to get away. Baseball was always his favorite sport, whether listening to a game on the radio, watching it on TV or actually attending a game, he loved it all! Jim was a Mariners fan true to the blue. He was also a Seahawks fan during football season.
Jim and Jan were active lifetime members of Vintage Graffiti Car Club. Jim was very proud of his street rod and enjoyed traveling to many events.
The last several months dad adopted the neighborhood hummingbirds; he started out with one feeder but soon realized he needed more! Those hummingbirds lit him up, I will miss him pointing out the window, “Hey did you see that?!!” as they would fight for positions on the feeder. He watched over them during the winter snow afraid they would die from the cold or starve if the feeder were to freeze overnight, so each night we trudged through the snow to bring in the feeder and then in the morning they went back up for breakfast.
Celebration of Jim’s life will be held on May 18th at 2:00 at Christ Community Baptist Church, 8016 176th St. East, Puyallup WA 98375.
Dessert will be served following the service. Please stay a while and share a story or two with us!
What’s your fondest memory of Walter?
What’s a lesson you learned from Walter?
Share a story where Walter's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Walter you’ll never forget.
How did Walter make you smile?