Russell James Gregg Jr. or Jim as he preferred to be called, was born August 17th, 1945. He was born the third child and first-born son of Russell Sr. and Joyce Gregg. Jim's sisters Bonnie and Melody were older and his brothers Roger and Scott were both younger. He spent much of his youth swimming in the bay waters behind Golden Gate Fields or camping, fishing and hunting in Lassen National Forest.

In 1962 Jim asked his father for signed permission to enlist into the United States Army. Russell Sr. signed without argument and off Jim went to the Army. After boot camp he was sent to Hawaii where he spent his entire enlistment. In his own words his army career consisted of "driving truck, KP {which is cooking}, and lobbing grenades, you don't throw grenades you lob grenades"! When his enlistment came up he quickly said he wanted to come home.

Once he came home, he started looking for a job and fell into an apprenticeship with printing. Which became a lifelong career. His attention to detail and slight perfectionism lead him to being exceptional in that occupation.

Jim married twice in his life. His first wife was Nancy; she had 2 children from a previous relationship Charlene and Leo. Second was Betty who also had 2 children from previous relationships Ronette and Robert.

Jim and Betty met through Wanda who was Betty's cousin and Jim's lifelong school friend. They married September 12, 1980, and their daughter, Jamie, arrived June of the next year. In September of 2025 they celebrated their 45-year anniversary.

In those 45 years they walked hand in hand through loss of parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, nephew and other losses.

Those losses were of course trumped by the great joys of Jim's life. Watching his 3 children Ronette, Robert and Jamie marry their spouses Gene, Penny and Nathen. Then he got to hold his 3 grandchildren Jessica, Brittany and Robert 3rd. Seeing them grow into adulthood, graduate high school, and meet their partners, Alan and Caitlin. However, the lights of his last 8 years of life have been his great grandchildren Zoey, Evan, Shawn and Lily-ann.

This is of course just a quick synopsis of Russell James Gregg Jr.'s life.

But if you remember nothing else of his life, please remember these few things.
1.        Jim was a formidable man, when he walked into a room everyone took notice.

2.        He loved the outdoors, Fishing and hunting and just generally being on the mountains.

3.        And most importantly he excelled at loving and taking care of his family.