After welcoming three children on the road, Jim and Mary decided it was time to come home. But "home" became something neither of them quite expected. 

When Jim was 12 years old, standing barefoot in a flooded alfalfa field on his father's horse ranch, with mud up to his ankles and a shovel in his hands, he had seen another mental image, crystal clear. Where there were level fields of pasture, he saw rolling hills, pine trees, ponds, waterfalls, and a cave. He went home that night and drew it on paper with crayons and colored pencils. His father said gently, "Son, this is a horse ranch, and we're not going to do that."

Twenty years later, Jim and Mary found that crayon drawing again. They dusted it off. They took it to 12 different bankers, who laughed them out of the room… "Location, location, location!" … but they just wouldn’t quit. After watching a chuckwagon dinner theater show in Colorado, Mary leaned over and said, "Jim, we need to do this!" They believed. They built. And on faith, with an orange extension cord running 100 yards from their mobile home to power the lights and stage of a 7,000-square-foot dinner theater that hadn't yet passed inspection, they opened The Rockin' R Ranch.

Within five weeks, they were sold out every night, six nights a week, with weekend matinees. One rancher called it “The Miracle in the Desert.” For 35 years, Jim and Mary stood on that stage as “Big Jim and Sweet Mary,” performing the songs and humor of the Old West. In time, their children joined them, creating a shared life experience each would cherish forever.

They became one of Arizona’s great family entertainment landmarks, performing at the 1996 Super Bowl, on ESPN, on WGN Chicago, and for hundreds of thousands of guests from countries they couldn’t always pronounce. Big Jim’s unconditional love, his dream, and his dedication to heartfelt service were felt by every soul who passed through the cave entrance.

When Big Jim was diagnosed with cancer in 1998, the road got steep. He fought hard, and Mary picked up every rein she could, but Jim never stopped working, never stopped dreaming, never stopped lifting the people around him. Together, they found a second great purpose: building direct sales teams across seven countries, mentoring thousands of entrepreneurs, and speaking from stages before tens of thousands, sharing love and inspiration with dreamers the world over. They spent the last 25 years of their lives pouring themselves into helping others find their passion and pursue their purpose. Big Jim believed in people the way he had always believed in big dreams, clearly, completely, and without flinching.

Of all the roles he played in his life: entertainer, rancher, businessman, mentor, writer; none meant more to him than husband and father. He adored Mary. He loved being a dad. When his fifth child, Marisa, was born with Down syndrome, Big Jim called her "smarter than all of us." He was her champion and her safe place, and he learned from her how to love without measure. He showed each of his six children, in his own unmistakable way, that they were known, that they were chosen, and that they were eternal.

Big Jim's faith was the bedrock under everything else. From his earliest memories, he believed in a Father in Heaven who loved him, in Jesus Christ as his Savior, in eternal families, and in the quiet promptings of the Spirit. As an 18-year-old wrestling with the decision of whether to serve a mission, his home teacher and dear friend, Darl Anderson, Sr., drove him to the Mesa cemetery, parked among the graves of his ancestors, and said, "Jim, all of these people are watching you and praying that you make the right decision." Jim later wrote that he knew, in that moment, that the decision he made would echo through generations of people not yet born.

He felt the weight and the joy of his LDS mission to Birmingham, England, for the rest of his life. He believed his family stretched in an unbroken line from Adam and Eve, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through Ephraim, down through Charles Innes Robson I, Francis Pomeroy Robson, Charles Robson III, his father Charles Innes Robson IV, and the Phelps line on his mother's side; and through the Madsen line on Mary's side. He believed each of his children and grandchildren had been sent here for a reason, and that he had been given the privilege of helping to gather the elect of God in preparation for the second coming of the Savior.

Big Jim lived his life as what he called a “Professional Dreamer.” He believed that any dream you could truly believe in, focus on, and be willing to pay the price for would become reality.

He was a writer and spent many years working on a manuscript he titled Voices from the Cloud: The Art of Discovery. He had a rare gift for communication. Whether through word, deed, or the written page, he captured the hearts and minds of all who came within his sphere.

He was a horseman, a multi-talented musician and entertainer, a storyteller, a teacher, and one of the greatest givers of love and laughter most of us will ever know. He had a way of making every person who sat across from him feel like the most important person in the room. Often, they were.

His patriarchal blessing promised, “I bless you that your body may be made well and strong and prepared for all the tasks that will be given unto you, and that you may be permitted to live until you have completed your work here upon the earth satisfactory to our Heavenly Father and to yourself.” Jim’s body was strengthened through many physical challenges, a testament to the mission he was given; one that led him to rise each day with cheer, determined to make an impact on every person he encountered. 

We can imagine the great reunion he just had, sharing a long-awaited, loving embrace with his sweetheart, Sweet Mary, his parents, his ancestors, and the Savior he served his entire life. We can hear him stepping through the gates and calling out, "Well howdy, folks… we are live and in living color!"

He often signed off his stories with this line, and it fits the life he lived:

"Remember, it ain't s'posed to be easy, but it is dang sure worth it."

We love you, Big Jim. Well done, Dad. It was a life well lived and … Oh, What A Finish!