James A. Currie, 72, of Libby

James Alfred Currie of Libby, a longtime resident of souteastern Pennsylvania, passed away in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Jan. 28, 2014.

Jim was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 8, 1942, to James C. and Claire (Dressler) Currie. He spent a few of his young childhood years in Florida, got started as a golf caddy and along the way, also supposedly became a yo-yo champion.  

He went to Bonner High School while living in the attic of the family home in Havertown, Pa., with his parents and two younger sisters. While hospitalized for lung surgery at the age of 19, he had a nurse who later became his mother-in-law.  

He was introduced to Patricia Ann Knock at Drexel Swim Club, and they married on Nov. 23, 1963.  

He went on to study engineering at Villanova University and completed his studies with a Ph.D in mechanical and metallurgical engineering at Northwestern University in Illinois.  

He became a professor at Villanova and eventually built and settled into their country home in Phoenixville, Pa., where they raised three feisty red-headed girls,  Cathy, Karen and Amy, and last, but not least, their one boy, Michael.  

Cathy went off to the University of Delaware and summers at the beach, then out west to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where she started her own physical therapy practice specializing in manual therapy.

Karen went to Temple University in Philadelphia and has moved around the country with a successful carreer in banking.   

Amy studied physical therapy at the University of Scranton in Northeast Pennsylvannia and also headed west to Libby where Jim and Pat eventually moved to be near four of their six grandchildren. Mike studied engineering at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh,  lived several years in Boston before moving across the world to Singapore where he and his family have lived for three years.  

Jim loved to fly planes, nearly finishing his pilot’s license while on sabbatical working at John Deere, then settled for radio-controlled ones at the flying field in Libby.   

He loved boats, which got the family stranded and towed many times on Chesapeake Bay, loved fishing, never made it hunting, collected stamps, sold his wares at Thursday’s Farmer’s Market the past four years, and fulfilled his dream of owning a Corvette, although, he was so thrifty he rarely drove it.  

He joined the family during reunions the last several years, which the children each took turns planning.  They were trying to convince him he should host one at Disney.

Jim, aka Uncle Jimmy or MacGyver, as he is affectionately called, is preceded in death by his parents and his wife of nearly 42 years.

He is survived by sisters,  Rita (Tony) Feola of Dreshertown, Pa.;  Eileen (Steve) Stokley of Lawrenceville, N.J.; Cathy (Dale) Gephart of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and their daughters, Avery and Zoe; Karen Currie of Santa Rosa, Calif.; Amy (Robert) Hughes of Libby, and their children Mallory and Robert, Jr.; Mike (Aiyana) Currie and their children Anika and Maxwell; three nephews, two nieces and their families; and faithful friend Tony Lumberto of Connecticut.

Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, with Rosary vigil at 7 p.m.

Funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 3, 2014, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Libby.