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Jim Gonia passed away last night.

17K views 26 replies 21 participants last post by  jefcop46 
#1 · (Edited)
Long time professional dog trainer, Jim Gonia, passed away. Such a brief sentence tell of a person who was bigger than life in so many ways;the successes with the dogs he trained and competed with, the people who followed his training regime many,his and contribution to the field trial game was significant. I will leave it to others to write of the man, his life, the field trial game he had an influence in shaping.
 
#3 ·
My condolences to his friends and family, he will be greatly missed.
 
#4 ·
Dang, I trained with him when I lived in WA. He was a great trainer and always nice to a novice like me. I am sorry to hear of his passing.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Jimmy was the son of legendary trainer Roy Gonia. I have known him for 40 of his 68 years and I always looked forward to interacting with him. His dogs were talented and almost always reflected his style. He had a great sense of humor and dry wit and never a shortage of a funny story or joke. To my knowledge he was in good health and passed peacefully in his sleep. He will leave a huge void in the retriever world and PNW in particular. My sincere condolences to his friends and family members.
 
#8 ·
Wanted to thank those who've commented thus far with personal reflections on Mr. Gonia, especially Dr. EdA and Wayne. When another gentleman known here as "Buzz" passed away suddenly a couple weeks ago, one poster complained that s/he found rtf despicable because so few people came forward publicly lamenting Buzz' passing. I don't think that to have been the case, yet it has troubled me ever since I saw the charge. I never knew Buzz other than his online handle and the "word in the blind" that he had bred some terrific pups. The folks who knew him - and who knew Mr. Jimmy Gonia and (the great) Mr. A. Nelson Sills - are kindly filling in their personal reflections to help us get to know what a loss their deaths are to the retriever and FT ranks.

Jimmy was the son of legendary trainer Roy Gonia. I have known him for 40 of his 68 years andI always looked forward to interacting with him. His dogs were talented and almost always reflected his style. He had a great sense of humor and dry wit and never a shortage of a funny story or joke. To my knowledge he was in good health and passed peacefully in his sleep. He will leave a huge void in the retriever world and PNW in particular. My sincere condolences to his friends and family members.
MG
 
#9 ·
I did not know Mr Gonia personally but I know many of his clients, contemporaries and associates. I also am very aware of the impact the Gonia family has had on the Field Trial game as we know it. All somebody has to do is look at that orange/clear whistle on your lanyard to see the Roy Gonia name.

DrA hit the nail on the head when he said it will leave a huge void in the NW.

My condolences to the Gonia family and all his personal friends and business associates and clients..

Mr Gonia's accomplishments speak for themselves, he will be missed by the game itself along with the people who cared and loved him
 
#11 ·
I knew and talked to Roy Gonia. It was long after he retired. But I always felt good after talking with him. Jim passed on to me some guidance he got from his Dad. Roy said you should never have to give
reason for a dogs poor work at a trial. Because the owner will already have one.
 
#12 ·
Shocking and Sad, we have visited with Jackie and Jim several times when down in Niland. They were always fun; their grounds are beautiful. Always liked to hear how hard grass was to grow in the desert, but if that is what Jackie wanted that's what she would get. ;). Seems there is a plague of these type of announcements of late. They can stop now :(
 
#13 ·
I have had the pleasure of training with Jim for several years. You will not find a finer man anywhere in the sport. His tireless work with his dogs and clients simply cannot be measured. My thoughts now are with his wife Jackie and his daughters. RIP my friend I and my dogs will truly miss you.
 
#14 ·
A shocker when I heard also. I always looked forward to BS'ing a bit with him at a trial. As Dr Ed mentioned, his dry humor was hilarious to me and I never got tired of hearing it. Also, he always had a truck full of great dogs. RIP Jimmy.
 
#18 ·
Jim was a good sized guy with a friendly confident nature. Quick witted, multi-layered. A lot of folks, in the NW, thought of &/or referred to him as "The Man". He was a great friend of Puget Sound Retriever Club. When re-establishing club grounds for our trials, he & Jackie came out with his tractor and brush-hogged and weed whacked it so we could use it. The next year they came out and weed whacked on a weekend. The following year he donated field fence so we could prevent dogs from getting on to the road. He was indeed a generous person. Last November I judged a trial on their property in Niland. One evening I was leaving and he and Jackie where monitoring the water as they were raising the level. On the quad, Jim would throw a bumper into the water and as Ford returned they'd move to another spot and repeat. That way Ford got his work in as a retiree. Fun to watch and was a lasting picture of Jim at his best.
 
#19 ·
As a young man getting ready to vote he worked for a cable outfit. The new guy always got
certain jobs. When he graduated to the next level the guy who replaced him could not do his
old job & they moved him back to the old job. Jim quit on the spot.

He told me he liked the job & the hours, so had he not had a stupid boss at the cable house
he dog world might have missed out on his talent!
 
#20 ·
It has. Been a long time since I have posted on this site but with this news I felt compelled to chime in. Previous posters are correct that we have lost a major contributor to our sport who's impact will be felt for along time. He did not write books or make videos but the dogs he trained and people such as myself that he helped and befriended will last forever. He was my mentor and more importantly my friend. He trained my first good competition dog and indirectly trained my other one by letting me include her in our workouts. He was a patient teacher and was willing to explain what we were working on with the dogs. His wife Jackie and I were good friends and played on a softball team together. When they started dating he would come watch us at our ball games and would not hesitate to heckle us good naturedly from the stands when we goofed but was there to cheer us on when we won a championship. We had alot of good times at the trials and would always give good advice and support when things didnt go well or was there to congratulate when we would kick butt. When I got married he was best man at my wedding and after that I moved to Kansas. My biggest regrets was leaving family, Jim and Jackie and all my other good friends in the retiever sport in the PNW. But I was ready to start a family. When I turned pro years later I always was able to call and quiz Jim about any problems I was having. It was a great resource to be able to ask one of the best in the business when you were stumped. But alot of times when I called he loved hearing about my kids and the things going on with them. I always loved listening to him tell stories about some of the grwat people in our sport. He was always honest and frank about what was going on. I could spend alot more time telling some great stories maybe another time. I never got to call to congratulate him on his well deserved HOF induction but was able to do via FB. If you walk thru that hall you could go that one and that one of the people and dogs that he had a part in putting them there. My heart aches for Jackie, Hillary, Stacey and all the other people that he also befriended. Will never forget you my friend RIP.
 
#21 ·
We were just talking about you and your big giant hands last week. Lots of tears down here. We back to work. Would love to see you guys. Paul aka Happy Gilmore
 
#24 · (Edited)
Marvin can probably recount this tale more accurately but I will do my best given that I only heard Jimmy tell it once. It is illustrative of Jim’s personality, he who could make light of almost anything. When Jim’s dad Roy died it was his wish to be cremated and his ashes spread over the Washington countryside were he lived. Jimmy makes arrangements for a pilot and small plane to fly him so he could scatter Roy’s ashes. As Jimmy tells it they reached altitude and him, not having done sufficient research into such matters, attempted to empty the urn containing Roy’s ashes out the window whereupon they were promptly blown back into the airplane. Back to the municipal airport they go and the following conversation between Jimmy and his Mom ensues. Jimmy calls home and his Mom answers hello! Hey Mom this is Jim. Oh hi Jim, what’s up? Mom I need you to come down to the airport and bring the little shop vacuum. OK Jim, what’s with that? Well Mom when we tried to scatter Dad’s ashes they blew back into the plane and we need to vacuum them up and put them back in the urn. As the story continued that was done and eventually Roy’s ashes were distributed over the countryside.

My apologies for any inaccuracies in passing along a funny story about a sad time but that is much of what people who knew Jim much better than I feel, sad with a little smile. RIP big guy, you made the world a better place and left me personally with some fond memories.
 
#27 ·
iI just saw this post .so sad. I was about to call Jim to talk to him. He trained NFC,FC,AFC,CFC Risky Business Ruby & me to the 1980 National Field Trial Championship. I spent many months w/ him & his family.I wrote my appreciation in the Dec. 1980 issue of the RFTN. He was a great friend & teacher. I will miss him.
 
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