Civil Rights Leader James Sims Dies Pastor Was A Force For Change In Spokane

Relatives and friends remember the Rev. James Sims as a soft-spoken yet outspoken leader, whose favorite sayings included “Go out on a limb, that’s where the fruit is.”

The longtime Spokane pastor and civil rights leader died of natural causes Monday in Seattle at age 79.

Sims’ legacy is one of tireless defense of human rights, children and the poor.

“He was probably the most complete person I had ever met,” said his son, Metropolitan King County Councilman and former U.S. Senate candidate Ron Sims. “I am no measure for what my father was.”

James Sims and his wife, Lydia, were both presidents of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Together they tackled racism during the volatile 1960s.

“In the worst of times he could make you laugh, in the best of times he could make you proud,” said current president Billy Morris.

Sims crusaded against downtown businesses that wouldn’t allow blacks to work as cashiers. He fought for housing laws banning discrimination.

“I remember one time, he got spat on, and he didn’t move,” Ron Sims remembered. Sims never got angry during those times. Instead, he told his son, “their hatred for him was between God and them.”

Sims founded the Spokane chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, an African-American fraternity. He was the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Spokane from 1962 to 1989, and an associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church before that.

Each week, he invited the same elderly woman, who only knew one tune, to sing in church.

“It was his way of saying ‘You are worthy. You are somebody,”’ said the Rev. Percy “Happy” Watkins, current pastor of New Hope.

Sims was born in Huntington, N.Y., on June 17, 1917. He graduated from high school in New Jersey, then Lincoln University in Pennsylvania with a degree in social work. He also attended graduate school at Gonzaga University.

He came west to serve at Geiger Field in the Army Air Force in 1941. He spent the rest of his life in Spokane until May, when he moved to Seattle to be closer to his sons.

For years he worked for the state office of economic opportunity.

Local attorney Carl Maxey remembers Sims as a man who didn’t just preach, but also listened.

Maxey often called Sims to counsel people in jail or in the hospital.

He never said no.

“They ran all the way from a person charged with first-degree murder to people involved in domestic disputes,” Maxey remembers. “He was always ready to come, whereas frequently people could find any excuse not to be there. He never had any excuses.”

Sims wasn’t just a single-issue crusader.

“He was a very articulate and strong spokesperson for the cause of both the African American community but also for the cause of poor people in the community,” Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty said. Geraghty and Sims served together on the Community Action Council in the 1960s.

“We’ll miss Jim Sims.”

Sims is survived by his wife of 55 years and their three sons, James and Ronald of Seattle; and Donald of Oakland, Calif.; daughters-in-law Carol and Cayan; grandchildren Adrianne, Samuel, Douglas, Donald, Daniel and Aaron; and a sister, Mary Sims of Summit, N.J.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Memorial Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Seattle’s Mount Zion Baptist Church. Burial will be at Evergreen-Washelli with a banquet at 1:30 p.m. at the Mount Zion auditorium. A service celebrating Sims’ life will be in Spokane at New Hope Baptist Church on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.