James "Jim" Kittredge, 81, of Cascade, MT, passed away on October 5, 2024, in Helena, MT, under hospice care after a lengthy illness.

Jim was born in Binghamton, NY, on February 27, 1943, to Virginia (Ranschke) and Raymond Kittredge. He spent his formative years in the hills of upstate New York, on the waters of the St. Lawrence River at the Thousand Islands, and in a German-Polish Chicago neighborhood. After graduating from high school in New York and leaving his studies in engineering at Wright College, Jim enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1962. He served in the 7th Corps as a meteorologist stationed in Baumberg, Germany. His journey across the Atlantic on the troopship USS Gordon gave him a taste of the uncertainty of his assignment. The crossing took more than three months because the ship suddenly turned south to Cuba with orders to join the force steaming to secure the U.S. position in Cuba against the Soviet threat during the "Cuban Missile Crisis."

After his military service ended, Jim attended SUNY-Binghamton in a Bachelor of Arts degree program. He worked for the Nabisco Company and the John Hancock Insurance Company, where he received national recognition for his work. In the mid-1970s, he moved to Florida, where he owned and operated a successful pool construction and service company in South Florida. While in Florida, he studied under Welsh calligrapher and slate engraver Ieuan Rees and the botanical artist Priscilla Fawcett. An active member of the area's calligraphy guild, he completed significant commissions for customers in the southeastern U.S., including the Miami Dolphins. Additionally, he collaborated with calligraphers Richard Ebbole and Marge Allmand and taught students lettering.

In the mid-1980s, Jim moved to Montana. He immersed himself in the state's gifts, including the friendships, the skiing, and the endless streams for fly-fishing that required creating his own hand-tied flies. He worked as an account representative for Artcraft Printing, Tribune Printing, and Advanced Litho Printing. His clients included the Advertising Federation, the C.M. Russell Art Auction, and the Annual March of Dimes fund-raising event. In 1989, he met his love, best friend, and wife, Edrienne (Cindy) Jones.

In 1992, Jim moved his studio to the family's ranch outside Cascade. Jim split his time between raising Highland cattle and Icelandic sheep and working with copper, silver, and glass to create jewelry. As a rancher, he actively taught the next generation a way of work, being a primary fencing instructor for the Montana Conservation Corps. In jewelry, he completed an intensive jewelry design course with master goldsmith Alan Revere at the Revere Academy in San Francisco, in addition to learning metal engraving with Armenian master Hrach.

His sense of beauty, infectious humor, and stories endeared him to his friends and acquaintances. He loved to travel, revisiting old haunts and making new memories, including trips across the United States and overseas.

Jim is survived by Cindy, his wife of 35 years; his son Stephen Forrest (Carol Schopfer); grandson Jamie Forrest; stepdaughter Rozlyn Adams; and numerous and loved family members and friends. His loss is beyond measure to his family and friends.

The family is planning a memorial service and celebration for the future.