James Richard “Jim” Kane was born July 13, 1938 in Salida, CO to James and Lois Kane. As a child and adolescent, his life was idyllic, living in a small, connected community with lots of friends, family and neighbors that watched over each other. He participated in high school sports and choral activities. In his junior year Jim attended Boys State and was elected attorney general. In this summer leadership and citizenship program he was able to exhibit and hone his early leadership skills. During high school one of his mentors suggested that he consider an appointment to one of the military academies, a fortunate event that went on to shape the rest of his life. He graduated from West Point in June 1960. He then attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course as well as Airborne and Ranger schools. As he said, “My three-year military career didn’t provide much in the way of material for war stories,” but he did enjoy two very exciting assignments, the 82nd Airborne Division and the “Old Guard” in Washington, DC. Jim rewrote part of the State Funeral SOP that became the basis of the President’s Kennedy’s burial ceremony in November 1963.
After leaving the Army in 1963, he went to work for the Campbell Soup Company in personnel management, where one of his challenges was turning ranch hands into factory workers through vocational training in conjunction with the local junior college.
About the same time, he volunteered to work for George H.W. Bush in his 1970 unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate from Texas. He returned to Campbell Soup but read an interesting ad in the Wall Street Journal from a public service organization in Austin, TX—he sent in his resume and became the executive director of the Republican Party of Texas. His political stint was short, as the party officials lost control of the party, and, politics being politics, he had to find a new job.
The next 10 years were spent at the Lakeway World of Tennis in Austin, as general manager. This is where he discovered resort real estate and his passion for sales in exclusive communities. His next move was to the Vintage Club in Indian Wells, CA, where he was extremely successful. After 10 years, he became interested in building homes and partnered with a custom home builder to form the Kane Company. They were building spec and custom homes until the recession hit and shut down the entire industry. He concluded his career as sales manager at Mirada Estates in Rancho Mirage, CA in 2012. He was highly respected in his field. His success came not only from his ability to connect with people but also from his genuine love and interest in the projects with which he was involved.
Jim’s interests were many and varied, but by far his most passionate was golf, for which he had an insatiable appetite to play the game and continued to be a student of it.
He truly felt the later years of his life were the most productive and satisfying because of his involvement with the First Tee of Coachella Valley, where he taught golf and served on the board of directors. He was excited to invest in the future of young golfers, who are taught golf skills through the First Tee’s nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.
Jim was also active in community affairs and helped establish a neighborhood group that successfully promoted regulations in the city regarding short term rentals and continued to advocate good public policy for homeowners.
West Point and the friends he made there were a very special component of his life. In particular, his West Point roommate of two years, Dr. John Denton, was an exemplary friend who remained steadfast throughout Jim’s life.
Jim often spoke of and used “the Five Paragraph Field Order” throughout his career. In fact, he jokingly and affectionately prepared a Five Paragraph Field Order for his out of town wedding to Ellen Troost on July 6, 1999.
In 2009, Jim fought a very courageous battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, after traditional treatment with chemotherapy failed, had an autologous stem cell transplant at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, CA in 2011. The transplant was a success.
During his stay at City of Hope, one of his favorite nurses mentioned that her son’s lifelong dream was to go to West Point. As time went on Jim became involved in helping him through the process and shared lots and lots of stories about his own West Point days. The young man, Hayden Ward, got his congressional appointment and graduated in May 2018. It was the start of a great friendship.
The transplant gave Jim additional years to enjoy his life. In the summer of 2017, he developed an aggressive prostate cancer that took his life in April 2019.
Jim is survived by his wife, Ellen; his children: James, Lois and Mikel; his grandchildren: Courtney, Hannah, Kevin and Olivia; and three great-grandchildren: Alexander James, Emmett, and Juliette.
Jim concluded his Class of 1960 50th anniversary comments with: “I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to become a West Pointer and to be associated with such exceptional classmates. The lessons learned from inside those old gray walls will never be forgotten. Duty, Honor, Country and the Five Paragraph Field Order will always be essential parts of my being.”
Grip Hands.