A memorial service for Jim Ryder, 78, of Marshall, will be held at 2 pm., Friday, December 12, 2014 in the chapel of Downs Funeral Home. Brother Craig Vanbiber will officiate, with a special message from Pastor Charles L. James. Friends and loved ones are invited to speak and share as well, should they desire. Jim passed on the morning of Monday, December 8, 2014, succumbing to the cancer he'd bested for the previous thirteen years. He was born December 16, 1935 in Gilliland, Texas to Walter Arthur Ryder and Ruby Esther Jordan Ryder. As a youth, he worked as a ranch hand and helped his father as a finish carpenter. After earning a GED, he completed numerous fire and rescue and engineering courses at the University of Texas and Texas A&M. As a fireman in San Antonio, he was, at one point, the youngest Fire Captain in the State of Texas. He later became a project engineer and surveyor for many Corps of Engineers and pipeline projects across the Midwestern and Southern United States. He would go on to become a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Jim owned his own surveying firm, Jim Ryder and Associates, which he operated out of his self-built Marshall home. He loved the peace and solitude of the outdoors, as reflected not only in his chosen profession, but also in his pastimes. Jim was a proud member of the American Mountain Men, and devoted to the preservation and rekindling of the knowledge and skills employed by the trappers, traders, and frontiersmen of the American Fur Trade era (1800-1840). He spent much of his free time crafting handiworks of leather, bead, horn and bone. Jim was also a loving brother, father, and grandfather. Additionally, he was an aficionado of off-colour jokes, which he retold with too much frequency and not near enough recollection. Jim is survived by his children, Jamie Ryder and his wife, Linda, of Natalia, Texas; Tom McMahon and his wife, Rose, of Natalia, Texas; and Nicole George and her husband, Kevin, of Harleton, Texas; his grandchildren, Laura Moodie, Patsy Garcia, Emma George, and Kathryn George; his great-grandchildren, Logan Moodie, Lawson Moodie, Stephanie Lang, Cheyanne Reynolds, Curtis Ryder, Raina Larson, and Jake Cantu; his nieces, Yvonne Ryder, Deana Patheal, Jinni Uselton, Summer Poldrack, Jinni Aldous, and Sherry Fridel; his nephews, Patrick Berna, and Walter (Buster) Ryder; sister-in-law, Jaynece Ryder; and brother-in-law, Mark Patheal. He was preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Ruby Ryder; his brothers, Arthur Lavonne Ryder and Bobby Clyde Ryder; his sisters, Patsy Stephens and Chrystine Patheal; and his grandson, Larry Reynolds. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Heartsway Hospice of Marshall. Special thanks is given to Dara, Barbara and Sandy of Heartsway Hospice of Marshall, the doctors, nurses, and staff of GSMC Longview floors A400 and S300, and Dr. Larry Frase for their excellent care; Pastor Charles L. James and Alisa Webb for assisting a family in need; and to all for their kind thoughts, warm words, and heartfelt prayers. Glory be to Him, who hears them.