James Lewis Locke, Sr.

James Lewis Locke, Sr.
August 25, 1924 - January 18, 2023
James L. Locke (Jimmy), 98, died peacefully in his Salem foster care home on Wednesday January 18. Born in independence, Oregon, & raised amid hop fields of rural Independence, Buena Vista, and Silverton, the 5th child of 10 children of Austin Calvin and Nona Hinkel Locke, his siblings were Violet Maxine (Duncklel), Dorothy Irene (Jacobson), Marjorie Marie (Werline), Austin Hugh, Virgil Merl, Howard Ray, George William, (Deceased) Winona Leora (Steckley) and Harold Lee. After graduating from Silverton High School in 1942, he enlisted in the US Navy and served as aviation radioman/gunner in the Navy Air Force, flying in a TBM Torpedo Bomber during World War II aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater.
He met his late wife, Zita Andrea Fehrenbach, while stationed at the Naval Air Station in Livermore, California, they were married in March,1946. After a year of College at Oregon State, they returned to California were he worked in the grocery business, after several moves around the state settled in California’s Central Valley where, he worked in management for several grocery stores. He and his loving wife returned to Salem after their retirement in (1984).
He loved to engage in his favorite activities of golf, fishing, and hunting, but mostly he enthusiastically liked to travel with Zita, either in their RV camping around the country or traveling abroad, it was a passion for them.
Jimmy is survived by his son James Jr. (Nancy) of California, his sister Winona Locke Steckley of Keizer, his brother Harold Locke of Springfield, and more nieces and nephews too numerous to name, who all loved him dearly. Farnstrom Mortuary is caring for the family.