James Ogden Stiles, Jr. died at his home in Coldwater, Kansas, on March 11, 2024.
Jim was born on December 11, 1949 to Sue Montfort Stiles and James Ogden Stiles, Sr. of Louisville, Kentucky. He was raised in Louisville, graduated from the University of Louisville, and then moved to Southeast Utah in the early 1970s, after a friend of his father’s gave him a copy of Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire. He was hired as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Park and fell in love with the history and landscape of the canyon country. He quickly became an integral member of the Moab community and a passionate voice for wilderness.
In 1989, Jim founded his newspaper The Canyon Country Zephyr, which covered both local news in Moab and also the broader environmental and societal questions of the time. He published one of Edward Abbey’s last pieces in the Zephyr’s inaugural issue and he continued to chronicle the story of the changing American West for the next 35 years, both in print and then finally online. In 2007, Jim published the book Brave New West: Morphing Moab at the Speed of Greed and that same year he was the focus of a documentary, also titled Brave New West. The Zephyr’s tagline is Clinging Hopelessly to the Past and over the years, the Zephyr published innumerable essays, photos, reminiscences and lamentations about what had been lost to the past and what had developed in its place. Jim published work from a wide variety of voices, he highlighted great western photographers like Herb Ringer and Edna Fridley, and he maintained a spirited community around the Zephyr, which continues even now.
Jim moved to Kansas in 2011, where he continued to write and publish until his death. He leaves behind family, many friends, and countless readers, all of whom are shocked and saddened by his passing.
Oh, I’m so saddened to hear this. I wondered why he didn’t publish a new article last weekend; now I know. This seemed to happen suddenly; does anyone who has followed “The Canyon Country Zephyr” online know more details about what happened? I’m really going to miss his articles here; he had a wonderful way with words, a true “wordsmith” in his articles. He will indeed be missed. Rest in Peace, Jim, at that Great Perfect Canyon in the Sky.
I too have been following his writings for years, his online antique sales, his life in Kansas, his cats and his memories. I’m so shocked to hear this news. He will be missed by many.
💔
I am so sorry to hear this I have only been following the Zephyr for a year or so. I really enjoyed his writing and wit. Our Monday mornings will be less enjoyable for sure. I pray that his family is okay…I am so sorry.
Rest in peace dear friend.
Happy trails to you, Jim!
I am shocked and saddened to hear this. I didn’t know Jim other than following the Zephyr and posting the occasional comment. As a a recently retired Colorado Park Ranger, his accounts of his rangering days put smiles of my face accompanied by knowing chuckles.
The west has lost another voice defending it and it’s past. Thankfully he spread it to many people who appreciate and hopefully will echo it forward.
Rest in Peace Jim, from another curmudgeon trapped in a modern wilderness.
So long and thanks–for everything. Walk in beauty, Jim, always.
Devastating 😔I’ve followed his writings since the 70s when I lived there at Arches and Moab. Love following all of his articles and historical photos on the Zephyr online. He’s an icon along with all of those he wrote about. Will be sorely missed. I would like to think he and Abbey are having a great reunion now.
Jim was a good man: stuck to his guns when writing history and/ or defending truth. He researched and preserved so much of the history of both Grand and San Juan County. His legacy will live on.
This is an absolute shock, and equally as devastating.
Jim, your writings brought me joy. Rest peacefully.
What a shock today after reading of Jim’s passing. For years I admired his work from afar, and recently became part of the Zephyr backbone. His last e-mail was about my in-progress caricature, apologizing that he was a bit out of practice. I assured him there was no hurry. It’s probably in permanent draft form… but it makes me thankful that I got to know him and his humor first-hand, even if not for very long.
My last Hero has passed into the cosmos!
I am stunned……..
Thank You Jim for all you have done in the pursuit of Truth and Reason and Integrety and Love of a Sacred Landscape. Who will pick up your Torch? I fear no one as capable You? Any one? No one? “….and this is the way the World Ends…..not with Bang……but with a Whimper….”!!!!!
So long Brother of a different Mother…
It was one of the great honours of my life to write for the Zephyr and count Stiles a friend. We had many long talks, some deep and illuminating, some which left him rolling his eyes. I will miss his brilliant mind, his beautiful command of language and the hope he tried so hard to hide. Be at peace, my friend. Go with love.
Gil
My friend and I traveled to Moab, loved The Zepher, found Jim’s house in Moab, left a note signed iby Thelma and Louise with our Alaska address, and Jim sent us hard copies of The Zepher for several years. Never actually met Jim in person, but our planet has lost a very generous, thoughtful soul. Blessings to Jim
Is there anything we can do to keep this site alive as a tribute to Jim? There is so much here that I would hate to see lost.
…from the time we met at Arches, and thru the next 40 years, i have always valued our conversations….safe travels on the other side, Jim, we love you.
Peace be with you, Jim. Finally.
The details of what may or may not happen to the Zephyr are unknown at this time, also as to who wrote this obit. The best person to contact with those questions would be his ex-wife Tonya Audyn Morton, who has been in Kansas dealing with his death since shortly after it occurred. She is on FB and can be reached through FB Messenger. Please reach out to her, it would be a travesty for all his work to be lost.
I’d like to contact the person who wrote this obit in order to write a bit more about Jim and his life. Please text me at (801) 699-7773 or at bill.keshlear@gmail.com. Also, if any of his friends know who now owns and maintains this Zephyr please contact me. The work of 30-plus years should not disappear.
Jim was a friend and inspiration to many. He had a rare gift for invective.. He will be missed.
This is such sad news. I only heard it tonight – with the irony that I was reading from my book, published today, which has a couple excerpts from the Zephyr and a chapter from Brave New West. Stiles generously gave me permission to publish them (and I wrote him a few weeks ago for his address to send a copy). Picking up a Zephyr was a favorite part of visiting Moab. Thanks for your help and generosity and we’ll miss your voice.
We’ll miss you, Jim.
Buddy-Calipers, Jim.
Thank you for your art and also for all of the debate and laughter.
You were a tender human-bean.
much love, coon, chuck and charlie
Muchas gracias, Amigo de la Tierra ~ Travel well, on your Journey Home, to the unspoiled wonderlands of which we clung hopelessly to the past, with such good reason, prescience and fervor. See you around the bend, at the campfire with Ed ~ ~ ~ ^ ^ ^ * * *
Ah, old friend, we lose another old friend. The only gift is that it was natural, and not due, as is the case for so many of the beloved places which feel like friends, to a developer moving in. Our ranks dwindle. The losses grow exponentially. There are no cliches to soften this one. Moab. Flagstaff. Ouray. Our homes grow more and more charming. Developers get richer and richer. My heart breaks – again and again.
[…] Generally we don’t publish obituaries of folks, born in Louisville and passed in Kansas, who don’t have ties to Palisade; but Jim made substantial contributions to the field of journalism, and particularly to the regional journalism of southeastern Utah. It’s fitting that the obituary appears in his own rag, The Canyon Country Zephyr. […]
What a loss. A great guy. A passionate defender of the wilderness, just like Ed. You did good, Jim.
“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the disciple to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed”. Ernest Hemingway
Rest In Peace Jim, you were one of the best.
It made me sad to learn, this morning, of Jim’s passing. When I read this quote, it made me think of Jim’s writing about his nightmare experience with the American mental health system and his recent piece about his long friendship with Herb Ringer. Jim will be missed by a lot of people, even those who only knew him through his writing.
Oh Dear! I haven’t always agreed with the Zephyr politically, but his writing really inspired my own writing style for a newsletter I print for friends and family. Thanks to him, I started really reflecting on how it felt to go places and what made them special to me.
It is puzzling as to who wrote this obit–it sounded like the Zephyr had been a one-man show for quite awhile now–but perhaps someday we will find out.
To those who want to write a more lengthy piece about him, I imagine Jim would be honored.
(My comment got deleted. I hope I didn’t cause any offense)
Jim’s writing really inspired my own style when writing about my experiences. He inspired me to reflect on how things felt, write about things that matter to me personally and show readers why the subject is important.
I will really miss reading his work, and hope that the Zephyr will continue in some way. Though I’m sure it will be very different without Jim at the typewriter.
Crap.
Jim, I hope you find a new joyful land, but with just enough BS going on to make life interesting and put some fire in your belly.
Jim and I had been friends for almost 50 years, since working as rangers at Arches in the 1970’s. Over the years we shared our love for the beauty and history of the southwest and our loves and losses as we aged. I will miss Jim’s insights and stories. He was a true believer and a champion for the environment. I’ll miss you friend!
Your passion and love for the Southwest will be missed by all of us. Carry on Jim
I am thinking of the word querencia. A beautiful word, it is a metaphysical concept in Spanish. Jim would have embraced the word querencia. It is a place where one feels safe, a place from which ones strength of character is drawn, a place where one feels at home. Jim had the love of the land, and the people in and around Moab and Utah for many years. I am glad he went on line with the paper and left the area. Moab will never again be what it was.
I follow the Zephyr transiently. Off and on over the past few years.
Something told me I needed to check back in…
God bless him
I read this days ago, but I remain virtually speechless. I always thought I’d see Jim again. I did not always agree with Jim, but he always got me to listen. I recall picking up my first Zephyr off a rack in Dos Amigos in Moabtown, long ago. He not only changed my attitudes on a number of issues, but he proved a reliable true-blue friend. Jim stopped what he was doing to bail me out once when a vehicle quit on me in Moab. He introduced me to several amazing people in the Moab area. And his cabin had incredible views of Sleeping Ute Mountain in one direction, and the Abajos in the other. I felt blessed to know him. I am waiting to find out that he is still alive and kicking. Who can replace him? This has to be a mistake. . . .
When I got the notice that the small monthly stipend that I sent to Jim was canceled, I grew concerned. Then I saw this obituary. This news just breaks my heart. I first read the Zephyr some 30-odd years ago on one of the frequent trips from Cortez to the Moab region, and I immediately subscribed. Even though we never met, I felt as though I knew him. We chatted occasionally via email, and became ‘e-friends’.
I hope that somehow this vast treasure of knowledge and wisdom does not simply disappear. At the least, it should be archived at a university in Utah.
I’ll never forget you or all the hard work you did in keeping so many of us informed. Vaya con Dios, amigo.
Farewell, stiles. Modern life is fairly rubbish anyway. I’m missing the regular-as-clockwork Monday emails already.
I stumbled across The Zephyr by chance only a couple of years ago and was immediately drawn in by your writing and the invaluable archive of photographs that were entrusted to you by people that had ‘been there, done that’ before the wilderness was turned into a theme park. People such as the Nielsens, Edna Friedley and Tad Nichols have left a visual record that will cause future generations to ponder what has been lost.
I would have loved to have met you – two grumpy old farts trying to out-nostalgia each other. Yes, nostalgia is alive and well on this side of The Pond too. Still, on we go destroying what nature has given us.
I, like others, hope your body of work is preserved somewhere for all time.
RIP Jim, my kindred spirit.
I worked with Jim at Arches National Park in 1977. He had a cynical point of view at that time, which I appreciated and appreciated his love of nature as well. His writing is gold especially in his books.
I will not forget him as he made a marked impression upon me during my time of working with him at Arches.
See you on the trail sometime in the future Jim.