James R Bird

James “Jim” Rylie Bird passed peacefully from his home on earth and was greeted in Heaven by his Lord and his loving family on February 15, 2022. Jim was born in Marble Fall, Texas on the banks of the Colorado River, delivered by a veterinarian, on the 29th of January, 1931. Jim began his life of hard work at the tender age of 3 in the cotton fields alongside his mother. Always willing, never shy of learning and mostly self-taught, Jim built a long list of skills: roofing, construction, oil well rigs, farming, ranching, mechanic of anything with a motor, welding, and fabricating. As a young man, Jim would play as hard as he worked. He rambled through out these United States of America, that he so dearly loved. Racing cars, hockey on roller skates, rodeos, playing cards and dominoes and just seeing something he had never seen before. In 1960, he met his cherished wife, Gladys, at Lee Memorial hospital, where he was a patient and she, his nurse. They married September 5, 1960 and went back to Jim’s Texas to begin their family. In 1978, they made their way back to Florida, residing in Immokalee. Jim found worked and another family at Williams Farms, where he remained until his retirement. Jim and Gladys had five children and instilled in them the value of hard work, loving your family and faith in the Lord. To his children and grandchildren Jim passed along his passions of motorcycles, horses, 42, music, and the importance of mowing your yard correctly. Greeting him in Heaven: Jim’s beloved wife, Gladys Angelina Bird; his precious grand babies, Jessica Angelina Faye Bird and James Wesley Bird; his dearly loved mother, Annie Bird; father, Louie Bird; his sisters, Mary Beedles, Charlene Simons, Bettie Bird; his brothers, Roy Edwin and John Wesley Bird. Left to celebrate Jim’s life: his children, James Daniel Bird, Martha “Sissey” Boyd, John Edwin Bird, Katherine M Bird, Clyde Wesley Bird. His grandchildren, John E Bird Jr, Amber Angelina Bird, Jacob Daniel Bird, Savannah Boyd, Ashley Bird, Samantha Bird; his great grandchildren, Rylie, Emmitt, Caroline, and Nicolette.