James William Sulak 1938 - 2022

Jim Sulak, a life-long outdoorsman and resident of McMinnville, Oregon, passed away Monday, January 31, 2022, at age 83, surrounded by his three daughters at Cherrywood Memory Care. He was born August 19, 1938, to parents Alice and Miles Sulak of Riverside Drive, McMinnville.

As a youth, Jim worked on the family farm and cherry orchard in McMinnville and assisted his father with his logging business. He spent summers as a teen working at Boeing Field fueling airplanes, learning to fly, and assisting his uncle on Spieden Island in Washington state.

Following graduation from McMinnville High School in 1956, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was deployed to the South Pacific on the USS Epperson and the USS Nicholas, where he served as the ship's barber from 1957 to 1959.

After returning to McMinnville from the Navy, he married Carol Anderson, and they had three daughters. He worked as a surveyor in Yamhill County until his retirement in 1999. In 1983, he married Karen Buffum.

He enjoyed 4-wheeling, rebuilding cars, camping, fishing, sailing and running. Retirement years were full of sailing and RV trips to Arizona and lots of time with family and friends. He enjoyed decades of sailing the Columbia River and the Salish Sea of Washington and British Columbia. He obtained a boat captain’s license and assisted many sailors, often taking new boaters across the Columbia Bar, on cruises up the river, to the San Juans and British Columbia in S/V Bliss. He served as a support boat captain for many Inter-tribal canoe journeys passing from British Columbia to Washington and through the San Juan Islands.

His survivors include wife, Karen Sulak (Neuschwanger/Buffum); brother, Tony Sulak; sister, Melanie Byers Jones; daughters, Heidi Foster, Wendy Sulak and Stephanie Richardson; stepdaughters, Stephanie Buffum and Amy Bizon; and six grandchildren.

Gifts of remembrance can be made in his honor to any group you think reflects the values Jim embraced during his life.

To leave condolences, visit www.macyandson.com