05/21/2026
Jim was cremated at Fosters in December. His celebration of life is Sunday May 24th at silver park in Missoula.
James Clinton Coefield, Jim to his friends, Jimmy to his family, and Papa to his daughter, was born April 6, 1956, to Nina and Thomas Coefield in Great Falls, Mont. He passed away peacefully on December 28, 2025, in Missoula, Mont., surrounded by his family. Jim is survived by his daughter Willow and her fiancé Merlynn, his partner Shana, his older sister and brothers (Pat (Bill) Hoover, Tommy (Jane) Coefield, and John (Candace) Coefield) and their families.
Jim was the youngest of four children, arriving a full six years after the next youngest brother, John. With such a large age gap from his siblings, Jim’s playmates were schoolmates, neighbors, and Club kids, with whom he built lifelong friendships.
Growing up, Jim was an intelligent, sensitive child. He was often home alone after school as a teenager, so he learned some rudimentary cooking skills that later turned into a love of good food and a reputation as an excellent cook.
As a young adult, Jim embraced the ethos of the ’70s. He was the wild child, the hippy, the peace and love center of the Coefield family. While his family looked on with a mixture of bemusement and curiosity, Jim had purity of purpose. He envisioned a world where people treated each other kindly; a world driven by love, compassion, and community, rather than profit. He strove to embody these values throughout his life.
And while most of the world would continue to let him down, Jim found the community he sought in the Rainbow Family; he attended as many Rainbow Family gatherings as he could throughout his life, relishing the money-free society governed by consensus and driven by volunteerism.
Jimmy was only eight years older than his oldest nephew, which made him the Cool Uncle. In his early 20s, Uncle Jimmy would take his teenage nephew, Mark, under his wing in search of fun. The two went to Jethro Tull concerts, Jerry Johnson Hot Springs (in the 70s!) and hung out in the MSU dorms when Mark was definitely too young to be there.
Jim met Su Gregerson, with whom he would spend nearly 20 years, in the late 1980s. The two went to Rainbow Gatherings, played music, and together created Jim’s greatest love, their daughter Willow.
Jim and Willow were peas in a pod. Jim encouraged his daughter to find and fight for her spirit and wildness. He also instilled in Willow lifelong lessons – a love of learning, finding peace in simple things, caring for family and animals, standing up for the voiceless, and roasting excellent coffee. He stood by her in good times and bad. Over the years, the golden-haired toddler sprinting around the cabin would grow into a treasured friend. (After she’d burned some of that energy in Judo lessons.)
Jim played flute growing up but switched to percussion and guitar as an adult. He kept the beat, whether on guitar or drum, and supported musicians he played with to take the spotlight. Jim and his friends’ love of playing together grew into the formation of the Velcro Sheep in the ‘90s. The folk band didn’t make a lot of money, but they did record the absolute banger, “Johnny Appleseed Was a Pothead.”
When his father got sick in the early 2000s, Jim entered a difficult period. The prospect of losing Grandpa was hard for everyone, but it hit Jimmy like a sledgehammer. When it was clear he needed help, his family rallied around him to get him to recovery. For the family, it was a relief to see Jim return to himself. For Jim, the experience was a revelation.
Jim went on to become a pillar of the recovery community in Montana. He welcomed newcomers and validated their worth. He gave his time to put on events, used his technical skills to build websites, participated in groups and workgroups at the local and regional level and carried recovery messages into institutions. During the pandemic, he set up Zoom meetings and kept them going in the ensuing years to make it easier for rural and distant participants to attend meetings. And above all, Jim’s gentle and steadfast spirit became a lighthouse for those in need.
In December 2011, Jim met Shana Dieterle at an Occupy Missoula meeting. Shana says his dog Roxy was roaming the meeting tent, greeting everyone, and she knew whoever had guardianship of such a well-mannered, personable dog was someone she wanted to meet. Shana followed Roxy to Jim, and was struck by his intelligence, his good heart, his deep voice, and his passion for social justice. Their connection was immediate and unmistakable, and it wasn’t long before Shana moved into their tiny A-frame cabin in Arlee. They were better together and provided each other with companionship, support, comfort, and joy; two halves made whole.
After a couple years, Shana brought her horse to Arlee. She and Jim set about building a barn and pastures by hand for what would become a tiny private horse sanctuary for the old and infirm. Jim had always loved animals, but the horses they housed brought him a new level of peace. During his illness, as soon as he’d get home from a hospital visit, Shana would find him with the horses.
The two used the manure from the horses to grow a large organic garden and the two of them, with the help from Willow and her fiancé Merlynn, grew more food than any one family could eat. Jim preferred it that way; with an abundance, he could share. Jim gave the overflow to local food banks, family, and friends. Gatherings were blessed with garden-fresh salads and preserved vegetables.
Throughout his life, Jim was drawn to the wilderness. He found solace in its beauty and inspiration in its balance. He saw its destruction as a stain and strove to protect what he could. Many people can say they love the environment, but Jim lived those convictions. He threw his energy into supporting the Ecology Center, the Buffalo Field Campaign, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the Wild Rockies Information Network, Friends of the Jocko, and more. Through his efforts he became a fixture in the conservation community, leading campaigns and rallying friends and neighbors to the cause. He was a squeaky wheel in a system that expects quiet complacency.
Jim was many things to many people: conservationist, activist, coffee connoisseur, pacifist, musician, gardener, artist, animal lover, mentor, talented cook, sponsor, brother, uncle, partner. But the role he was most proud of, that brought him his greatest joy, was father. And he was the best dad.
