End of an era
Musical legend and Sun Valley friend, Jimmie Limes, dies
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Musical
legend, longtime ski instructor and icon for a Sun Valley era, Jimmie Limes died at Sun
Valley’s Wood River Medical Center of an aneurysm Monday. He was 72.
It’s hard to live in the Wood River Valley and not have heard
Limes play his joyous big-band jazz, patriotic marches and, for Ketchum’s American
Legion post, heartfelt taps.
Most recently, he played his clear, bright, crisp notes with the Jimmie
Limes Quartet, which was always a highlight of the Sun Valley Jazz Festival and of the
Wagon Days celebration.
His down to earth, The Cities Band, an ever-expanding throng of
local musicians with a come-one-come-all philosophy was famous for its afternoon jam
sessions at local parks.
And in the 1960s, Limes and The Holiday Four carried the Ketchum
night life high at Slavey’s, blasting Tijuana Brass until the sun came up and the gig
was over.
There’s little doubt that everybody loved him.
Lloyd Ulyate, trombonist and well-known Los Angeles studio musician,
traveled to Sun Valley this week to mourn the loss of Limes. Ulyate met Limes at the Ram
Lounge in 1959 and they had been close friends ever since.
During a call from his Elkhorn home, Ulyate illustrated the fervent
enthusiasm Limes brought to his music and to the lives of others. Ulyate recalled hiking
up Dollar Mountain with Limes in a snowstorm to serenade Christmas revelers during the
annual Sun Valley Torch-light Parade.
It was so cold Ulyate’s trombone slide froze. But when it came to
music, Limes was not easily thwarted. They played "Jingle Bells" and other
carols, Ulyate harmonizing in the key of B-flat, where his slide was frozen.
"It was not a musical triumph, but it was marvelous," Ulyate
said.
"It’s kind of the end of an era," Ulyate said of
Limes’ death. "Sun Valley is just different."
Limes, born in Los Angeles in 1927, began his lifelong love of music at
the age of 10 when he acquired his first trumpet. As a teenager, he formed a Dixieland
band that entertained World War II servicemen at the famous Hollywood Canteen, which also
featured movie stars Bette Davis, Edgar Bergen, Susan Hayward and Gary Cooper.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1945 and served as a Navy musician and
bugler in Guam. After his discharge and a year attending college, he began a short-lived
career playing professional baseball for the Chicago Cubs "C" League farm team
in Visalia, Calif., but was soon released.
Limes’ wife, Lee Limes, during a telephone conversation Tuesday
from her Ketchum home, said her husband decided to come to Sun Valley in 1953 because he
had no money and there was cheap room and board available here.
Limes worked as a bell hop and a bell captain before becoming a ski
instructor in Sun Valley, which he continued to do for 43 years—until the week before
his death.
Lee Limes, who came to Sun Valley in 1950 when she was 26, met her
future husband while she was waiting tables at the Lodge. She fell in love with him for,
among other things, his music.
"Once you get music in your blood, it’s there," she
said.
After dating for three years, they were married in 1957 at the Trail
Creek Cabin.
Through more than 42 years of marriage flavored always with the music
of Doc Sevensen, Chet Baker, Harry James, Louie Armstrong and Maynard Ferguson, to name a
few.
Lee Limes said her husband considered himself lucky to be a musician
and considered it a gift to be able to play music.
Lee Limes, who is not herself a musician, said, "I listened, and
that’s what I’m going to miss."
In addition to his wife, surviving family members include his daughter
Lynn, son-in-law Hal, grandson Harrison Leadlay and mother Peggy Rose. He was preceded in
death by a son, a sister and his father.
Memorial services are scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. at Warm
Springs Ranch Inn.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the Blaine County Education
Foundation, in care of Wood River Chapel, Box 639, Hailey, to aid students interested in a
career in music.
Arrangements are under the care of Wood River Chapel in Hailey.
