James D. Waters, 86, of Lancaster, PA, died on December 13, 2014.

Born and raised in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Yorkville, Jim lived in New York for 83 of his 86 years. He attended Manhattan College, graduating with a B.B.A. in Labor Management and later earned an M.A. in History from New York University. He served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he served as a weatherman. He worked for the New York Department of Labor for 27 years.

He lived with his wife Mary and their children in the Inwood neighborhood on the Northern tip of Manhattan where he was active in the Church of the Good Shepherd, and its amateur dramatic troupe, the Paulist Players. He later moved with his family to White Plains, where he was a parishioner of the Church of St. Bernard, lending his fine bass voice to the choir.

Jim summered on Fire Island for 46 years, enjoying the simple, wild beauty of the Atlantic. He was an avid cyclist and a train enthusiast and he traveled extensively, both in the United States and in Europe.

A child of the Great Depression, he was a practical man and not prone to excess. It is likely that this obituary has itself already strayed into "excessive" territory. But for all his practicality, he had the distinctive aesthetic of an artist. When he was younger, he painted. Sometimes his children or his home. Sometimes a flower or a ray of light falling across a table. As he grew older, his hands shook and he no longer painted. His works hang in the homes of his children now, reminders of the beauty he saw in the world and in them.

We will miss his stories, his generous heart and his steadfast, unshakable faith in the goodness of people and the blessings in his life.

Jim is survived by his three children, Thomas J. Waters of Lancaster, PA; Mary Waters-Sayer of Dover, MA; and Kathleen Bunshoft of San Francisco, CA; and six grandchildren, Ellen, Kathleen, Nolan, Mary, Liam and Elizabeth.

Services with interment in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice & Community Care https://www.hospiceconnect.org/give.