Obituary: James Andrew Abair
April 12, 1949 - April 28, 2023
September 18, 2023Celebration of Life scheduled
(Corrected day) A Celebration of Life will be held in honor of James Andrew Abair at the American Legion Post 59 in Waterbury on Sunday, Oct. 8, 1 to 4 p.m. All are welcome.
James passed away on April 28. His full obituary is below.
May 27, 2023
James Andrew Abair; family photos
James Andrew Abair (Jim), 74, a lifelong resident of Waterbury Center, passed away in the comfort of his home in Waterbury Center on Friday, April 28, 2023, after a battle with cancer. Born at Heaton Hospital in Montpelier on April 12, 1949, he was the son of the late Andrew and Patricia (Lowe) Abair.
Jim grew up on the Loomis settlement farm on Loomis Hill, a property purchased by his father. As a young man, he worked with his father on the family farm and acquired many outdoor skills and knowledge of how to live off the land.
Jim attended most of his early school years in Waterbury, then for his senior year of high school, he attended Harwood Union High School the first year it opened and became the first student to graduate from Harwood. Thereafter, Jim attended Massachusetts Trade School in Boston on a scholarship, where he studied drafting and machine tool design.
After finishing trade school, Jim was employed by the State of Vermont Agency of Transportation, where he worked surveying roadways and performing concrete inspections. In 1980, Jim left state employment to start his own business as a self-employed logger. He logged mainly with his horses and not machinery. He sold logs and pulp to the lumber mills and firewood to local folks in the area. In 1993, Jim and his horse Bo were featured in a documentary about logging and forest management at Hubbard Park in Montpelier. The documentary aired on Vermont ETV, the television show “Across the Fence,” and PBS. He and Bo were also featured in numerous local newspapers.
Aside from logging, Jim also served as a sexton for the Waterbury Center Cemetery Association, a job he took very seriously.
After 26 years of logging, Jim retired and worked a number of years for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Thereafter, he was employed at the Napa Auto Parts store in Waterbury as a delivery driver, a job he enjoyed until a couple of weeks before he passed, when his body would no longer allow him to work. Jim was well known for his work ethic.
In his spare time, Jim enjoyed beekeeping, a hobby he began at the age of 15 when he got his first beehive. He participated in several beekeeping clubs, mentored many novice beekeepers, and at one time held the position of president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association.
Jim was an avid hunter and outdoorsman his entire life. He traveled to numerous locations throughout the United States and Canada to hunt and fish for wildlife. Jim was not a religious or spiritual man, but at one time he said that he felt closest to God when he was in the woods.
Jim is loved and mourned by his son James Ameden and his wife Pamela of Londonderry, Vermont; daughter Sabrina Abair of Waterbury Center; son Matthew Abair and his wife Jill of Waterbury Center; and three grandchildren, James Ameden Jr., Madison Abair, and James Abair, as well as extended family and friends.
A celebration of life will be held outdoors at the Abair farm on a date to be announced later. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice, 600 Granger Road, Barre, VT 05641-5369.