This is in loving memory of James C Mahan, Jr., Oct. 4, 1951 – June 7, 2020. He was raised in East Syracuse by parents Velma and James Mahan, Sr., with his two brothers, Tom and David, as well as his three sisters, Patty, Sharon, and Bridgett. He graduated from CBA in 1969. He has lifelong friends that have been a constant in his life and were like family to him. There is also a large number of cousins that all have fond memories of growing up with Jim and his siblings having fun and making a little trouble! He was always known for having a good time and was full of great stories.
Jim was married twice. He had two children James “Jake” C Mahan, III and Katy (Dave) Mahan-Rutkowski. He also had two stepchildren Phil (Rene) and Andrea Burgmeier. He truly loved family, but we all know his grandchildren were his soft spot, Odas and Macy Rutkowski, which he traveled often to Hood River, Oregon to visit for weeks at a time, as well as Julia, Mya and Alex Burgmeier, that did sleepovers, holidays and other fun things regularly. He always went above and beyond when it came to his family.
Jim grew up with a strong love for building and racing stock cars that continued all through his life and passed that love down through the next generations. He loved to be in his barn tinkering with anything he could get his hands on, whether it was building a vehicle from scratch or constructing a set of rocking chairs he loved to see an idea come to fruition. He also was an avid fisherman and hunter for many years. He was also known for having a vast knowledge of just about everything and loved to share that in good conversation.
Jim worked at Conrail for eight years in the machine shop and then went on to Centro for 32 years where he retired as the director of fleet technology. One thing he thought he would have more time to do after retirement would have been to travel more, to Ireland specifically.
He had so much joy and love stored up from over the years that he will forever be shining that same love back to us each and every day until we meet again.
You were loved and you are missed.
