James A. Yates

To introduce myself for those of you that I do not know, my connection to Jim started through

the Teepee Creek Stampede and volunteering – I was a volunteer on the board and was

President for a number of years, and Jim his family spent a pile of time volunteering with the

Stampede and we worked together quite a lot. Volunteering together led to a friendship that I

am not certain Jim knew how much meant to me. It is my privilege to be a part of

remembering Jim today - Thank you to Jay, Jess, Trish, Kimberly, Matthew, Autumn, and

October for trusting me to find the words to honuor Jim.

James Allen Yates – Jim, Jimmy, or however you knew him – For me, I think hearing someone

greet Jim with a “Hey Jimmy” was the most suiting to the man I knew. To the government, he

was James Allen Yates but I think to most that knew and loved him, he was Jim or Jimmy Yates.

Jim was born in Fairview on November 26, 1984, to his parents Dave and Trish Yates. His sister

Kimblery joined the family two years later. The Yates family then moved to Wembley for

Jimmy’s early childhood years, and moved once more when Jimmy was in Grade 1 to Grande

Prairie.

Knowing Jim and experiencing just a fraction of some of his shenanigans, I have no doubt that

Jims childhood was filled with mischief and adventures – as he certainly carried on with that

later in life. I did not know Jim as a kid as only met him about 15 years ago, but in conversation

over a whiskey or 2, we discovered that we both went through the scouts program in Grande

Prairie around the same time and while we were part of different groups, were quite sure we

had attending a number of camps together back in those days. Jim was always prepared to

help anyone out and work through a problem – likely some the skills and qualities he learned as

a young man in the scouts program.

Jim & Kim’s father, Dave Yates passed away from a heart attack on Aug 13 2006. It was quite

sudden and certainly shook the whole family. Jimmy loved him dearly and Kim shared with me

that she feels is was a pain that Jim never truly recovered from. Kim asked me to share how

much she appreciated Jim and how he stepped up when their dad passed away, and even

walked Kim down the aisle at her wedding. Kim shares that always meant the world to her that

he did that. Kimberly says Jim always looked up to our dad and he did a wonderful job filling his

shoes and supporting mom and I.

Our dad was always very respected in the oilfield and he would’ve been extremely proud that

Jimmy lived up to the Yates legacy. They were big shoes to fill and man o man did he fill them.

We were all very proud of him. I am sure there are many folks here today that worked with

Jimmy over the years on different jobs and have a lot of stories they could tell. Jimmy loved to

work as part of a team and I am sure that Jim’s life in the oilfield will always leave a lasting

impact with everyone he worked with. From consultants he worked beside, to the greenhorns

he trained, I am sure there are a lot of stories out there. The oilfield was truly in his blood and

what he knew best.

Jimmy met October 20 years ago in 2004 when they were just kids - and they were married a

few years later on June 9, 2007. They were blessed one year later with a healthy baby boy, J

David Wallace Yates, born on April 8, 2008. I can confidently say from my time knowing Jim that

J truly was his greatest pride and joy. As October said well, I would say Jim’s greatest

accomplishment and pride was for our son J and he loved supporting him in his endeavours and

being involved in everything he did.

Jim and his family lived in Grande Prairie until they moved in 2013 to their acreage home in

Webster - where their home became known as the RZR Ranch. A place where so many people

came together and shared so many memories – I am sure that many of you here today have

stories from the RZR Ranch and great memories made – I know I have some stories and I am

sure you will hear a lot of stories shared here today from folks touched by Jim’s life.

Jimmy lived an adventurous, curious, and child-like wonder in all aspects of his life, he was

never afraid of a challenge, he took life by the horns, and always wondered where that next

trail led to. He was always there for anyone who needed him, especially his son, and was

famous for saying “don’t ask questions, if you don’t want to know the answers to them” and

always had a great story to share. Jimmy never wanted to just coast through life, he always

wanted to find the next adventure and create the amazing memories that were guaranteed to

make a person go “really?” – and it often involved blowing something up – a bit of a “lets see

what happens” experiment was always on tap when Jimmy was around.

Jimmy was a very skilled self-taught blacksmith, mechanic, curious scientist and the epitome of

a “jack-of-all-trades”. If he wanted to learn, he was all in, and within a week he’d be a walking

encyclopedia and could teach anyone.

Jim’s son, Jay - asked me to share some of his favourite memories and stories with you:

Jay shared this story about back when my dad first got his iconic Polaris Razor ATV.

He just unloaded it off the trailer, fresh off the lot – shiny and new.

Both of us eagerly got in the brand new machine and started ripping around. We flew

throughout the pasture having so much fun. Not even five minutes later headed at mock

chicken speeds from the pasture to the drive way – we had to be doing around 70-80km/h, we

ended up flipping the machine and that was the first time I ever swore in front of my dad -

giving a, ”Oh shit dad, that was crazy.” And until this day I denied I ever said such thing. Those

were the first of many war wounds on dads RZR and it was a story he and I always came back

too

JAY says another time dad was outside welding something or cutting I’m not fully sure, but it

was onto a 100 pound propane tank

I decided to go see what he was doing, and adventured outside. I just finished walking down

the steps of the deck when the next thing I see is this 100 pound propane tank flying down our

driveway at a dangerous pace and I was so scared I ran back into the house and hid in my room!

I truly thought I was gonna die that day! But luckily both dad and I were ok and we survived to

the next adventure.

When my father was just getting into his blacksmithing he wanted to learn as much as he could

as fast as possible.

He watched pretty damn near every episode of forged in fire and did about every bit of

research he needed to get started

He started out with this beater forge that did the job for the first while but before long, decided

he needed an upgrade. He decided why not build my own? It can’t be that hard, can it? Dad

started with a propane tank, some railroad track, and on old drum brake casing or rim I can’t

remember. Jay says he got to help a fair bit at constructing this forge and it was built with lots

of care and research. It was quite the process but it was really enjoyable and a lot of fun. Dad

was successful in building his own forge and it even worked!

After building it he forged some of the most beautiful knifes and built them with so much care.

It was something he really loved and just another thing he put under his belt of many skills.

After he started to really get the hang of it, he showed me how to make my own. He had a

rough base started for me out of a rail road spike. He made it with the really cool twisted

handle and gave the reigns to me and guided me through the rest. He showed me how to have

patience, and especially when you are building something and even though it’s a slow process,

the product in the end is worth the slow beginnings and processes, and when times might be

frustrating or tough, to just take a deep breath and maybe take a step back, and just keep going

Jay says I could go on for hours on all the adventures and lessons my dad has brought me on.

He means so much to me and is my biggest role model, I look up to almost everything he

achieved and accomplished. He knew so much and just had a general knowledge of damn near

anything. Whenever I’m stuck in a situation and not sure what to do, I always ask myself what

my father would do. Jay says he could quite literally talk for hours about his dad and sharing

stories, but felt best to share these ones as some of his favourites.

Jim was a man with a big heart that touched so many people. Larger than life comes to mind

when I think of Jim and his heart. Thank you to everyone for coming today and joining us in this

memorial to Jim – you being here today truly is a testament to Jim and showing J and his family

how many people truly did care for his father.

Children were always drawn to Jimmy like a magnet - they could sense his caring and kind heart

and wanted to be around him.

When Jimmy had first met Jessica Potter in 2021, unbeknownst to each-other, they would

become each other’s adventure partners and soulmates. Together Jim and Jess took on every

adventure that came their way, along with their blended family that consisted of 3 children, J

David Wallace Yates, Autumn Lilly-Ann Zylinski and Matthew Zylinski, - and they always came

back with some incredible stories.

Jimmy and Jess moved into Sexsmith in September of 2022, and later bought a house in August

2023, where they used as home base for continued adventures travelling, kayaking, hiking, car

rides, and even late-night bike rides. When they weren’t adventuring, they were trying every

type of food out there that peaked Jimmy’s intertest. He even had J try pig intestines – but just

the one time.

Jess asked me to share some of her favourite memories of Jim with all of you and it is my

privilege to do that – in Jess’s words:

Jess tells, the First time I had ever met Jimmy, well, I was with my girlfriend - two lesbians

showing up pulling our units into Jim & Octobers yard for the spring opener weekend, and we

rolled into this field and over walks this huge honker redneck wearing his bush t-shirt, camo

shorts, and his American flag crocks. Now I tell you, the first thought in my head was “ummmm,

shiiit, I’m not sure how liked a bunch of lesbians will be here .” He came over, and he asked,

“welcome to the rzr ranch, who are you?” and of course I replied, “the lesbian who asked you

where I can shit.” That smile, that laugh, was instantly contagious, I knew in that minute, its

okay, we got this and it will be fine.

We continued and joined the RZR Ranch shenanigans for the weekend and things were great –

we met some incredible people, saw Jim walking around in his hot dog pjs and just helping

everyone. Fast forward to when him and I got to know each other even better, the conversation

just flowed, the need for adventure met, naked swimming in a water hole, ummm hell yeah,

lets do this. So many memories all the way to breaking my toe on a bouncy castle because I

challenged him to race, which in turn I had won, but of course Autumn needed to race me after

wards, which in turn caused the break, watching J’s face as I fixed that toe – it was priceless and

him saying “toes shouldn’t do that.”

Jess shares that I can’t explain the zing to my zang that I felt with Jimmy, we just flowed, we

would have “stoner moments”, we would have funny moments, where we were microwaving

jolly ranchers and blowing bubbles and eating it. Or we would randomly decide to jump in the

truck and go for a paddle on a lake or end up in golden bc at 2 am leaving on a Friday after work

with no real plan, and finding random chickens on the road. The sense of adventure was so

strong with him, and he always encouraged the challenge. Like finding a random lake on a

forestry truck road near vermillion, and finding a turtle, which was incredible enough, but after

jimmy was done playing with it we continued, and in turn paddle around a corner to, no word

of a lie, there was more than 100 turtles. It was incredible.

One time, we realized between our little families’ names first initials spelt JJJAM (Jimmy, Jessie,

J, Autumn and Matt), why we laughed at that for like 20 minutes, I really don’t know, but it

struck us and it felt peaceful. Jimmy was incredible with children, last summer we headed to

Red Willow with a bucket full of children, and I would walk up to the top of the creek and float

with the kids, and he would catch them at the end, we stayed in that freezing cold creek for

hours, and he never once complained.

Jess says I may have only got 3 years with him, but those memories will never fade and those

shoes will never be filled. He showed me what true love was, he showed me how a person

should be treated. He had so much love to give, and he gave every ounce of it, to me, to his

son, to my children, to our friends. He gave so much.

Words will never begin to express how much it hurts to begin this healing path after such an

incredible loss of a soulmate.

Jim Yates and I had met May 2021, I had been lucky enough to have met a person I could so

easily click with, someone who would stay up for hrs to talk on the phone with me. Someone

who would say “good morning my gorgeous” or “what do you need sweetheart”. He could

make me smile, laugh, cry and also go “wtf Jimmy”. It was a rocky road to begin, and one not

many people would have withstanded, but we did, we came through holding hands and

showing our love and support for one another. There are no road plans to life, you just need to

follow the flow and make your choices. Jimmy made his and he was very proud of that, and

would remind me every day he had 0 regrets.

He was my adventure partner through and through, didn’t matter what it was, but if we wanted

to do it we would. Always give it a try and 95% of the time we loved it and would go back and

do it again. When we left on an adventure, we packed for every possible outcome. Rolling into

Golden at 2am we looked like a bunch of hicks ready to move country, and he loved it.

Jimmy loved his family and friends and in our time together we were lucky enough to make an

incredible group of friends feel like family, again, if we wanted an adventure they were right

there along side of us.

Jimmy loved his son J so fricken much, there wasn’t a time talking about J didn’t bring a smile to

his face and his chest stood out a little bit more. He was so proud of him.

Jimmy became a second dad to my children; Autumn and Matt and the support and love he had

for them was incredible. He knew how to make us feel like a family.

He even loved his dog, Gunner. Taking him for walks or watching the dog learn to swim made

him smile. Even our dog Gunner is lost and doesn’t know what to do without Jimmy.

I will forever miss the smile he had when we would see something incredible, or that smirk he

got when he thought of something that was going to be interesting, or the laugh he’d get when

something was funny.

The loss of that future we had planned and how miserable it is that we didn’t get to walk this

earth together very long, as partners, as a family , but I know we will have our chance again in

another lifetime, as he kept reminding me; he will always find me every time.

Thank you, Jess for trusting me to share your memories – I hope I did them justice today.

Jim’s passion for helping others and his community will forever be remembered by those he

helped. His wild ideas that he would somehow turn into reality with a little, to a lot of, help

from friends, Jimmy could truly accomplish anything he put his mind to.

Jimmy had many fiends - He may not have talked to all of his friends daily but you could know

damn well that didn’t matter to Jim and anyone was welcome with him and they would pick up

right where they left off months, or even years ago.

I spent a lot of time volunteering with Jim. It was not long in to my tenure as President of The

Teepee Creek Stampede Association that I met Jim, October, and J – but I have realized I

actually don’t recall meeting Jim & his family a first time – it feels like they were just always a

part of my life – and just were always there – and I think that is how it often was with Jim – he

was such a natural friend that if felt like he had always and would always be there for you.

Volunteering in Teepee Creek was truly a family affair for Jim and his family – and they would

pull their camper out around July 1 and setup camp and spend every day at the Stampede

grounds volunteering and helping with anything and everything for 2 weeks or more. They

would book their holiday time off of work and spend it volunteering (which is really a lot of

work!) and supporting the community.

I think Jim and his family starting volunteering I would guess close to 15 years ago – and that

means J could not have been very old when they started. J truly grew up around the Stampede

and our team of volunteers, working alongside his dad and mom. It was through this time that I

really got to know Jim and his family and they became not just fellow volunteers but true

friends.

Jim was always such a pleasure to work with and I knew he had my back and I could count on

him. I appreciated that so much – as the Stampede grew, it became impossible for me to be

everywhere I needed to be at once, and having Jim around was such a godsend for me – I can’t

count the number of times I would call Jim and ask him could he help with unloading a truck, or

meet this person and welcome them to help get settled, or deal with this issue of the moment

that no one wants to deal with. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever heard Jim say no to a

task. It didn’t matter what it was, Jimmy was in to help and see it through. I always knew I

could count on Jim and I hope he knew how much I appreciated him and his families efforts.

A few years back Jim was honoured for his efforts receiving The Sportsman Award Spurs –

which is an award of a beautiful set of custom Teepee Creek Stampede trophy spurs and they

are awarded to one person a year, the decision is voted by the committee to honour one

person who goes above and beyond in their efforts - and boy did Jimmy ever deserve the

honour – he earned those and then some. He was extremely proud to receive them and I

remember congratulating him and the smile he had when he was surprised with the award. It

was a great honour to be recognized by your peers like that.

On the personal front, Jim’s friendship meant a lot to me. I have never been very good at

asking for help – even when I clearly could use a hand and can’t do it alone. Jim saw through

that pretty quickly and I can’t count the number of times he would just show up without really

being asked and be ready to help. Even with tasks like moving – certainly not much fun – Jimmy

was always there and quick to lend me a hand. I tried to return the favour as much as I possibly

could, but always felt in-debted and that I never could do enough in return. We shared lots of

fun times too over the years – lots of great memoires of times at Jim & Octobers, our place,

burning brush piles for new years eve with fireworks in the mix for a little extra excitement –

and so much more. I hope Jim knew how much I appreciated his help over the years and just

how much his friendship meant to me.

The world lost a good soul incomprehensibly on September 11, 2024 – we are worse off

without Jim in our lives and we wish it was different and we could somehow change it. Jim was

just a couple of months shy of his 40 th birthday.

Like many of you I am sure, these last 10 days I have found myself reflecting a lot and at a bit of

a loss - looking for answers and trying to understand - where it seems there are no answers to

be found. I have spent a lot of time thinking of Jim and trying to understand – and I think like so

many of you likely have as well, I have experienced a full gamete of emotions – from profound

sadness and heartache, to anger, to disbelief, to frustration, to wanting so badly to do

something to change things, to guilt, all the way to hope that Jim has now found peace – I feel

like I have experienced almost all of the emotions and it is quite overwhelming.

There are some things in life that we just can’t explain – we just have to accept them – and the

loss of Jim is one of those for me.

A loss of life like this can be so difficult to wrap your head around – but I would encourage you

all to hold on to your memories of Jimmy, share them, talk about Jimmy, and wrap those

memories around his family as they get through a most difficult time of saying a goodbye far

too soon. Jim was a very caring soul who shared and showed his love everyday to those around

him. To remember and honour him, I would encourage you to care for one another and be

there for each other.

I hope that Jim has found Peace. Sometimes we can’t understand why horrible things happen

– and just have to accept them - I can only hope that in our loss of Jim, there will be good to

come from it and maybe someone here or someone you love and care about can open

conversation and find the help and support they need to talk through their challenges.

Jim will be forever missed by his mother Trish Yates, his sister Kim (Matt) Thibault, his son J

David Wallace Yates, the mother of his child October Yates, and his adventure partner Jessica

Potter, stepdaughter Autumn Lilly Ann Zylinski, stepson Matthew Zylinski, and his niece Jasmin

Victoria Aqua Thibault. And countless special friends that were like family to Jimmy.

Jimmy was predeceased by his grandfather Ken Smith and his father Dave Yates.

A father, a son, a brother, a partner in life, and a true friend to so many. Jimmy, until we meet

again down the trail.

On behalf of Jims family, we would like to thank you so much for coming and being a part of

celebrating Jimmy’s life today and the impact he had on all of us.

Rest easy my friend.