James Lee Coss

March 6, 1947- December 4, 2020

James Lee Coss

On Friday, December 4, 2020, James Lee Coss, a loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away at age 73.

James was born on March 6, 1947 in the small town of Mexico, Missouri, completing the Cloyd and Edna Mae Coss family as the youngest of four children. Referred to as Jimmy by his siblings, he would live in Vandalia, Missouri from birth to adulthood. Jimmy loved spending time outdoors, playing with model trains, and regularly visited the local Dairy Queen. His friends and neighbors knew him for his kindness and quick wit. The Coss family would vacation by taking road trips throughout the country to visit historical sites and family members, spawning Jimmy’s lifelong love of road trips. When Jimmy reached his teenage years, he balanced an afternoon paper route with playing on the basketball and tennis teams for Van-Far High School. Jimmy graduated in 1965 and was voted Prom King that year.

After high school, Jimmy attended one year of college and then joined the Air Force. He spent six months at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA before serving three years in Frankfurt, Germany as a Linguist specializing in Czech. On the weekends, Jimmy would hop on the local train or use his Volkswagen Beetle to see the German countryside and other parts of Europe. When he returned home, he gifted his mother and father a variety of authentic German handcrafted items. He spent a brief time in Quincy, Illinois before deciding to head West.

Jimmy moved to San Francisco, California where he rented a room with a shared bathroom. He worked and went to night school for tech trade. Through one of his co-workers, he met his future wife, Linda. He called his sister that night and told her he met the woman he was going to marry.

Jimmy was blessed with an instant family in 1976 by marrying Linda and welcoming her 6-year old son, Ernest, into his life. Soon after marrying they moved to Fremont, CA and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1979, their son Matthew was born. Shortly after, the four of them packed up and moved to Blue Springs, Missouri where they welcomed Taylor in 1981 and Katie in 1983. With his family still in Missouri, Jimmy spent part of his time working in California while Linda took care of the children. They decided to move back to the San Francisco Bay Area, ending up in the town of Morgan Hill, where they welcomed their last child, Susie, in 1985.

Jimmy worked as a technical writer for various technology and medical device manufacturing companies for almost the next three decades. When he was working, he kept a candy jar full in his cubicle for coworkers to come by, have some sugar, and converse. In 1993, he and Linda moved to Ripon, CA where they lived for 27 years together, raising their children and then retiring. In addition to his professional pursuits, Jimmy held many volunteer positions in his Church. He taught a gospel study course to high school students on multiple occasions. Every Friday during those years, he started a tradition of bringing his students donuts. He was a part of the Bishopric in his church congregation, served as an administrative clerk, taught Sunday school, worked with the young men, and spent many years investigating historical records to build his family tree.

Jimmy was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Martha, sister in law, Alice and is survived by his wife Linda, his five children, Ernie (Liz), Matt, Taylor, Katie (Lane) and Susie (Daniel); his sister Dottie (Robert) and his brother, Fred, 10 grandchildren, and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Jimmy received a Veteran’s Funeral Service and was buried at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella, CA on December 11, 2020. If anyone has a kind or funny story to share about Jimmy, please send an email to scbsb@mail.com. The family would appreciate your memories.