Jimmy Leroy Myers

Jimmy Leroy Myers, 85, died peacefully at St. Catherine’s South in Fargo on August 4, 2025. Jimmy was born February 25, 1940 to Jesse and Nell Myers, in Bryan, Texas, the first of three children. In 1943 the family moved to Hearne, Texas. The family then moved to Houston in 1950.

In Houston Jimmy attended Housman Elementary School, Spring Branch Junior High School, and Spring Branch High School. He competed in track in junior high and won several ribbons in the 50 and 100 yard dashes. He played football in high school and was also in the school choir. After leaving high school, Jimmy enlisted in the U.S. army. His time in the service allowed him to see European cities, including Paris and Berlin.

Jimmy spent 40 years in Austin, Texas as an unhoused person. This is a way of life that he chose, something that few people could understand. He told his younger brother, David, that he loved the freedom he experienced in living this way. Jimmy never stayed in a shelter for the unhoused unless the weather was too cold to sleep outside. For years, Jimmy spent most nights in a sleeping bag in a thickly wooded area near the Colorado River. When the fire ants made sleeping outside impossible, Jimmy began sleeping on the back porch of a house turned into law offices. When a lawyer caught him sleeping there one night, he generously told Jimmy that he could stay there every night and serve as their night watchman—which Jimmy did for several years.

In 1999 Jimmy had a stroke that caused paralysis on his left side that made him wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. His brother, David, flew to Austin to bring him back to Moorhead, Minnesota where David lived. He was able to qualify for a subsidized handicapped accessible apartment in Moorhead that federal disability insurance allowed him to pay for. Despite his disability, Jimmy was able to live for 20 years on his own in the apartment—able to dress himself and fix his own meals even though he had the use of only one arm and one leg. In 2019, Jimmy had to have a colostomy bag, which required that he move into a nursing facility: St. Catherine’s South in Fargo, N.D. He was known there for reading all day, usually in his favorite spot in the library where he could consume yet another book while listening to classical music on an old radio. Jimmy was a much loved resident of this facility.

Jim loved music. His much younger sister, Judy, fondly remembers Jimmy singing to her when she was a small child. She always kept in touch with him, frequently called him, and was able to visit him at St. Catherine’s. Judy lives in Houston.

Jimmy, despite a very difficult life, always seemed cheerful, even after his stroke. He was a good-natured, gentle, and compassionate man. Jimmy was an example of a person who was truly good without being religious. He said that what he learned over his lifetime was that the most important attribute a person can have, whether religious or not, is kindness. Jimmy himself was a model of kindness.

Jimmy is survived by his sister Judy Green; his brother David Myers; his nephew Aaron Myers, and Aaron’s son, Christian Myers; and his nephews Adam and Jason Green (sons of Judy and Tommy Green); and Jason’s children, Connor and Vada. Jimmy was preceded in death by his parents, Jesse and Nell Myers.