Our family is heartbroken to announce that on December 20th, 2023, James (Jim) Jay Selden, aged 76, of Newberg, Oregon passed into heaven. His family was by his side. He was one of the most humble, kind, and giving humans ever to walk this earth.
Jim was born on September 30th, 1947 to Paul and Berni Selden and raised in Sherwood, Oregon. He graduated from Sherwood High School in 1965 and achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Automotive Engineering at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT). Jim worked with his parents as part owner of Sherwood Equipment and Gas Station and taught automotive studies at Portland Community College.
He met Ginger McIntyre, his wife of 44 years, in the spring of 1979, and spent a lifetime with her up on the hill in Sherwood where they raised 3 children: Brian, Carl, and Katrina.
Jim's passion for tinkering followed the family legacy of invention from his father, who was a pilot, his great great uncle, George Selden, inventor of the first automobile in 1879 and his great great grandfather, Isaac Drips, mechanical engineer and builder of the first steam engine in 1831. Jim, who was known for helping people, got his master technician certification and started Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)/A Selden Enterprise mobile repair company.
In 1991 when Brian was in high school, Jim and Ginger moved to Newberg. There Jim taught his children, grandsons and so many more kids to drive a stick shift in his orange repair truck. He retired from mechanic work in 2011 when he lost his eyesight and spent his final working years together with Ginger at their health food store, Newberg Natural Foods. Jim loved praising the Lord and helping others. His favorite pastimes were fishing and spending time with family and friends.
Jim was an amazing Godly man, husband, father, grandpa, and extended father figure to everyone he met. His lifelong passion was "to always leave things better than he found them." To say that he was a phenomenal man would be an understatement.
Jim was preceded in heaven by his mother Berni and his father Paul. He is survived by: his wife Ginger, sons Brian and Carl, daughter Katrina, grandchildren Patrick, Cody, Alex, Braden, and Lilly Anderson, Kennadie Selden, and Logan Kountz, his great grandchildren Sam, Wyatt, and Sky Anderson and his sisters Diane Ferris, Trudi Merwin Krajewski, and Jan Ouellette. I will leave you with this: one of his favorite sayings and verses was I John 2:6 "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." Jim would always say "walk as Jesus walked," and not just because your car broke down. He truly believed we should be an extension of Christ's love and should walk as He walked, thinking of and helping others first.
Walk as HE walked and live as HE lives.
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