James and Virginia Lorraine Payson

A Memorial and Celebration of Life for James B. Payson and wife, Virginia Lorraine Payson, will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Polson at 11 a.m. on May 29, 2024.

James Boyd Payson died Sept. 10, 2022, in Polson. He was born Oct. 22, 1932, in Clay County, S.D., to Ardith Boyd Payson and Wallace W. Payson. They moved to Missoula where he graduated from high school and attended college.

Jim always wanted to be a pilot and enlisted in the Air Force in 1951. His dream was realized in 1953. In 1962 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Kennedy for taking photos of the Cuban missile sites. While serving in Vietnam in 1967 he earned the Bronze Star.

Eventually he retired in 1974 and began his career as a professor of Psychology at Nicholl’s State University in Thibodaux, La. He retired from there in 1999.

For the remainder of his life, he spent the winters in Clermont, Fla., spent the summers at Finley Point near Polson, and drove a motor home between the two. He has two sisters that survive him: Mary E. Martin of Polson and Susan Payson of Vancouver, Wash., as well as six nephews.

Virginia Lorraine Thompson Payson died May 26, 2023, in Polson. She was born Oct. 19, 1934, in Grant Parish, La., to T.B. Thompson and Myrtle Thompson.

She and her two brothers lived on the Kateland Plantation near Colfax, La., where she graduated from high school and then from Louisiana College with a Bachelor’s in Education in 1955.

She met Jim on a blind date while teaching in Shreveport and three months later they were married on Feb. 5, 1956. Their first child, Linda Diane Payson, was born in Missoula on Feb. 24, 1958. She died Sept. 19, 2012, in Polson.

Their second child, Steven Boyd Payson, was born in Okinawa, Japan, on April 20, 1960. He married Joy Burt and they had two children, Erik Boyd Payson and Disa Joy Payson, who died Aug. 1, 1990. Joy, Steven and Erik Payson live in Lamesa, Texas.

Lorraine was predeceased by her brothers, DeVane Thompson of Baton Rouge, La., and M.C. “Red” Thompson of Alexandria, La.

Jim and Lorraine enjoyed traveling throughout North America. Lorraine loved to cook, garden and view the beauty of Flathead Lake from her lake house as well as the beauty of Lake Minneola in Florida.

Jim was skilled in carpentry, computers, automotives and general maintenance of just about anything. He skippered a sailboat during the summers and fished in the mountain streams and lakes until he was about 85 years old.

All who want to give a final goodbye and thank you to Jim and Lorraine are welcome to attend this service at the church. The remains of Jim are next to those of his daughter at the Lakeview Cemetery. The remains of Lorraine are in her beloved Flathead Lake.

They came, they saw, they worked to make things better for their communities, and then they went hopefully to an even more beautiful place.