James “Jim” H. Gustafson, age 65, of Kearney passed away peacefully at home from cancer on Saturday, October 29th, 2022. He was born on December 27th, 1956 to James Lavern and Ruth Elaine (Schroder) Gustafson in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated from Wilcox Public High School in 1975 and he continued his education in music performance at Kearney State College.

He was married to Janice Marie Woolwine on February 27th, 1992 and to this union two daughters were born: Dakota and Kalaya.

Jim had a passion for music that started at an early age, and started performing in bands at just 15 years of age. He performed with and was a part of many local bands throughout the 50 years he was active as a musician. At the time of his passing he was the bass player for the long-standing local band called Sweetwater, for which he was a part of for 25+ years.

He was preceded in death by his father James Lavern Gustafson.

Jim is survived by his wife, Jan of Kearney; two daughters, Dakota (Scott) Nichols of Kearney and Kalaya (Tobias) Pedersen of Shelton; his mother, Ruth Barnes of Holdrege; two sisters, Kimberly (Lonnie) Guyton of Holdrege and Sherri Bertrand of Osborn, KS; one Granddaughter, Asia Pedersen; six nieces and nephews; one honorary son Christopher Larson of Grand Island; plus the many other children who considered him a father figure; and many lifelong friends.

Due to the rarity of the cancer that took his life much to early and his passion for education, Jim made the decision to have his body donated to science to hopefully help the medical community advance their knowledge on this specific type of cancer. His celebration of life will be held at the Eagles club in Kearney, NE on Sunday, November 13th at 2pm.