Obituaries

Jim Ferry (aka Lewis James Ferry) passed away at the age of 81 on Jan. 27 in Santa Rosa, California.

Jim was also known as the “miracle man” as he survived pancreatic cancer for six years. Jim and Penny Ferry have been residents of Ferndale since 1970 when they arrived in town with $8 in dimes, a hide of leather and a ton of wax. Shortly after their arrival, they started the Abraxas Leather Shop, and made good use of the leather and wax. Their son Guy was 2 and half when they found themselves in Ferndale where Penny interviewed for the kindergarten job, which she was denied as the then Principal thought the Ferrys were hippies!

Jim enrolled in College of the Redwoods and also drove the school bus, while Penny did substitute teaching and they both made leather goods and ran the shop until they sold it to the present owner in 1978. In 1972, Morgan was born and both she and Guy were well known faces of Main Street. In 1975, the Ferrys and their partner Dave Clowes started Dave’s Saddlery, which they owned and operated until 1996, when they moved to Santa Rosa where Jim built restaurants for Guy.

Fortunately for them, the Ferrys kept their house in Ferndale and would come up any chance they got. Jim was a self-made man and was not stingy with the skills he had. When the Fireman’s Pavilion was destined to be demolished, Jim was president of the Chamber of Commerce and took on the job of saving the Pavilion (aka The Fig Twig). With the help of minor offenders at the Eureka jail, Jim restored the building in a year. Shortly after that, the Ferrys bought the building on Main Street, which had been the first phone company and Jim remodeled that and provided a much needed restaurant for Ferndale.

Another accomplishment credited to Jim and others in the Chamber of Commerce, was the building of the public bathrooms. They have been a great asset to Ferndale. The Ferrys loved the 26 years they were in business in Ferndale along with many other artists and craftsmen who occupied and ran their own shops. Jim is survived by his wife Penny of 56 years, his son Guy, his wife Lori and their sons Hunter and Ryder, and Morgan’s son Jules. In lieu of flowers and cards, the family requests a donation, if you so choose, to the La Catalina Educational Foundation, in La Manzanilla, Mexico, that was important to Jim.