Jimmy "Jim" Eugene Wanzer

Jimmy “Jim” Wanzer passed away peacefully at home, with his family by his side, on July 3, 2025, after a valiant fight with cancer. He was born the only child of Bryan and Wilma Wanzer on February 15, 1947. Jim grew up in Canyon County, Idaho and attended Notus High School. Jim was an outstanding athlete and lettered in football, basketball and baseball. Jim was an avid outdoorsman, even in high school, often going fishing, bird and big game hunting. Jim was always a hard-working individual, even from a young age. When he was 14 years old, he committed to making his own money and took jobs with local farmers in the Sand Hollow area, irrigating, working on machinery, working and branding cattle and many other aspects of working hard in the rural community. In 1966, Jim married the love of his life, Marie Sedlacek. They were married for 59 years. They had two children, Jimmy “Jim” Jr. and Jeanie. Jim and Marie remained in the Treasure Valley of Idaho all his life.

Jim was very ambitious and had a work ethic that was hard to equal. While he had many hobbies, a few of the main ones included horses. Jim competed in Rodeos for many years as a calf roper. He was well known in the Idaho Rodeo Cowboys (ICA) rodeo circuit and traveled to rodeos with his young family on the weekends. Jim worked as the yard foreman at the Nampa Livestock Sale Yard for a 3-year period, raising his two young children and continuing to refine his horsemanship skills. He enjoyed helping local farmers and ranchers in the springtime and could always be dependent on to rope calves at branding time. Jim took a job with the Union Pacific Railroad in Nampa, Idaho, where he worked for roughly 10 years, welding, fabricating and doing machine work. He was a very accomplished mechanic and had a gift for anything mechanical. Jim built and raced Super Six Open Wheel race cars and raced them at the Meridian Speedway for several years. Later, he would have the opportunity to assist in building race cars with his son and worked as his pit crew on race days.

Following his time at Union Pacific, Jim signed on with the United Parcel Service (UPS) and drove package delivery trucks for 14 years. Jim eventually moved into driving semi-tractor trucks and trailers for UPS as a “feeder truck” driver traveling from the Treasure Valley to places like McDermitt, NV, and LaGrande, Oregon. Jim retired from UPS after a nearly 35-year career, driving in almost every possible driving condition. While driving for UPS, Jim maintained one of the highest driving safety standards in the company.

Jim continued with his love of horses and for many years rode with his wife Marie and their daughter Jeanie and her family in the high country of Idaho, moving cattle, trail riding, elk hunting and fishing in high mountain lakes and streams, camping along the way. Jim’s passion for fishing was exemplified as he and Marie competed for over 10 years in numerous bass fishing tournaments. Later, after retirement, Jim annually traveled with Marie to the mouth of the great Columbia River, on the Oregon coast. There, they would spend a month or more each year fishing for salmon and visiting with the wonderful friends they made over the years in that location. 

One of Jim’s greatest passions and wonderful gifts was his devotion to his wife Marie and spending endless hours landscaping and developing beautiful and colorful gardens of flowers and shrubbery around their home. He was truly a handyman in every sense of the word and often assisted others with whatever tasks they were undertaking. He was considered the “go to guy” by his family and those who knew him best. He was always available to take questions and would often drop everything to make his way over to his granddaughter’s home to lend a helping hand, or anyone that called, always with a smile on his face and an inner confidence that he could figure anything out and fix it. Jim was a small-town type of person who had a big heart. He was always very devoted to his family and will be greatly missed.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Bryan and Wilma Wanzer. He is survived by his wife Marie, his son “Jim” Jr. (Cassie) Wanzer, his daughter Jeanie (Kieran) Donahue, and 7 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life for family and friends will be held at a date to be determined.