Ronald James McCoin, 76, passed away at his home in Philomath, Oregon, on December 31, 2022. He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Jane McCoin, his brother Keith Wolhar, sister Patsy Roth and “brother-from-another-mother” Bill Wren.
Jim was a welder, master fabricator and gifted metal artist. He was born in Oakland, California and spent the largest part of his life in San Francisco. Jim attended John O’Connell Vocational School for fabrication and metal work, reinforcing his passion for creating beautiful objects out of metal. He started building his own toys as a child, cutting discarded tin and forming the pieces over wooden blocks. “Magic” with a welder, he combined his skills into a unique brand of metal sculpture composed of 18-gauge cold rolled steel, welding wire and round stock, all of it intricately assembled into amazing sculptures of classic cars, motorcycles, and more.
Jim spent 40 years in Silicon Valley making sophisticated components for high technology companies such as Boeing and the Stanford Linear Accelerator. The craftsmanship we see in Jim’s metal sculptures today is the same as he did in Silicon Valley. The difference is now his work looks like cars and motorcycles instead of vacuum quality manifolds for wafer manufacturing.
Jim and Jane moved to Philomath, Oregon, in 2014 and although he was new to Oregon he quickly made many close friends that felt as though they had known him all their lives. Because of his skill and experience, he was quickly accepted into some of the metal art, welding and gunsmith communities both locally and online where he freely contributed his knowledge to anyone willing to learn. Those he mentored remember him as USMC vet, master fabricator, Ninja Sith Lord Jedi micro-tig welder, and amazing guy. Friends and family all wish him GodSpeed!
DeMoss-Durdan handled arrangements. Please leave condolences for the family on the website.