James A Cavanah

James Alan Cavanah of Santa Cruz, California, passed away peacefully on October 14, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii, surrounded by his immediate family and caregiver. Jim was born in Watsonville in 1928 where his twin brother John and his sister Connie all graduated from Watsonville High School. After attending Hartnell College, Jim went on to graduate from the University of California Berkeley, BA ’50, MBA ’51. While working for US Army Intelligence in Vienna, Austria, Jim met Leopoldina Johanninecz and, after a yearlong courtship, they were married there on February 4, 1956. In June of that year Jim returned to California with his bride and they settled in Concord where he began a career as an engineer at US Steel. In 1963 a job at Sylvania brought the family to Santa Cruz, and he went on to work at Fairchild Semiconductor before making a career change to Stockbroker at Dean Witter. He retired after 30 successful years in the Santa Cruz area offices of Dean Witter/Morgan Stanley. Jim and Dina loved living in Santa Cruz and raising their family--daughters Linda, Carrie and Christa and son Jim--in the house he built and taking the occasional swim at Cowell Beach. They had a network of support throughout their life from family and friends in the area. In recent years their nephew Ken Cowart and his wife Danielle and niece Barbara Reiter and associate Gabriel Magana were especially kind and caring. One of the most cherished events in his life was the trip he and his brother John took to Hawaii in 1953. Just as their mother had in 1923, Jim and John traveled to Waikiki with the idea of surfing the famous waves and enjoying the sunshine and warmth of the Aloha State. Indeed he fell in love with the beauty of Hawaii and always entertained the idea of someday living there. After his wife Dina passed in February 2016, Jim moved with his careprovider Lourdes Barba into the Honolulu home of his daughter Carrie Christman, thereby fulfilling his dream. There he spent many afternoons the company of his brother John at the Oahu Country Club and time with his son Jim who also resides in Honolulu. On August 25th the family celebrated his 88th birthday at the Outrigger Canoe Club followed by a double birthday party for Jim and John attended by extended family who came from the mainland for the festivities. Jim enjoyed working on many projects while President of the German-American Club of Santa Cruz, and as a member of the Elks Club and the Genealogical Society. He always had a good time interacting with the many people he came into contact. Jim is preceded in death by his wife Dina and his daughter Linda Hanifin. He is survived by his brother John Cavanah, his son Jim Cavanah and his wife Mindy of Honolulu, and his daughters Carrie (Cavanah) Christman and her husband Kirk of Honolulu and Christa Cavanah of New York City; 6 grandchildren, Andrew, Avery and Cassidy Cavanah; and Nick, Bret and Matthew Christman and seven nieces and nephews. Memorial Services will be held at 10:30am, Friday, November 4th at Pacific Gardens Chapel on Cayuga St. in Santa Cruz. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Elks Club of Santa Cruz for a memorial bench to be built in his memory. To express your condolences or share a remembrance with Jim’s family, please visit www.pacificgardenschapel.com.