Deceased Classmate: James Banta
Date Of Birth: May-12-1952
Date Deceased: Aug-9-2018
Age at Death: 66
Cause of Death: kidney failure, congestive heart failure and Sepsis
Classmate City: Salt Lake
Classmate State: UT
Classmate Country: USA
Was a Veteran: Yes Air Force
Survived By: His wife, Valerie, son Christopher and daughter, Kimberly along with 10 grand children and 1 great grand daughter, a brother and one sister. Many nieces and nephews.

I met James in Mr. Gibson's Algebra class. I stepped into the room and gazed around to see who looked friendly and my eyes fell on James. I walked across the room, down the aisle and sat at the desk across from him. I think it was his smile and beautiful blue eyes that stole my heart that very moment. We talked so easily as if we had known one another forever. James was so kind and helped me with my Math that entire year. He was so smart and I was so dumb. We began dating our Junior year and continued for awhile until after we graduated when for a short time we broke up but the good Lord had other plans for us and we found ourselves back together and married in Sept. 1971. We hadn't been married but 5 months when James had to go off to Basic Training with the Air Force and after that we moved to Mississippi to Kessler AFB. We enjoyed so much together, did everything together, but tragedy happened in early '08 when James had a bowel rupture, had surgery and 3 months of enduring a colostomy bag that I don't know how he managed as he did. He was able to have a reconnect surgery in June and we were so happy for that surgery so James could return to being a normal person again but life had other plans again and in Aug. that same year, James coming home from work and traffic stopping suddenly as it can on I-15, he stopped but a man behind didn't hitting James at full speed and causing him to black out and his car careened across 3 lanes of freeway and crashing into the dividing wall. He was almost killed suffered so many broken bones and 3 surgeries to repair them. He had to use a special walker for 3 months as he was told, no weight on that left leg. How he managed is beyond me but he faced all that with strength and courage. That next year, September, James was having shortness of breath and as it got worse I made him go to the hospital to be checked out. After a CT scan with dye, we were told he had congestive heart failure. That diagnosis hit me like a ton of bricks and I found myself alone, trying to be brave for both of us and yet James was calm as could be. He was and will always be my hero. A loving, hard working husband and father who loved his family and loved our Lord and Savior. When his heart began failing him even more and James went into St. Marks Hospital last August for angioplasty we were confident that this procedure would be the answer and at first it was as he was able to get out of bed and walk around the ICU without getting out of breath and he told me he felt better than he had in years. We were both so over joyed we cried but tragedy struck again 3 days later when James was found to have a bladder infection from a urinary catheter but it was to late, he became septic which caused his kidneys to shut down then his liver and he had to start dialysis which made him tired, lethargic and sometimes confused. He also suffered 2 small strokes as well, they were bleeds in his brain in two separate places. I was slowly losing my James, my soul mate, my everything and I was helpless to do anything but pray and pray I did along with many, many people. Then in the very early morning on Aug. 9th I was awakened by the phone ringing. I answered and it was a doctor from the hospital telling me that my James had gone into respiratory arrest and was intubated and what did I want to do if things became worse. James body was failing him, he'd suffered so much I knew he couldn't take anything more, so I told that doctor not to help him, gave them permission to do not revive him. The doctor told me that that was the best thing I could do but inside I was dying. It hadn't been 10 minutes when the phone rang again and this time I was told by the same doctor that my James was gone. He went into cardiac arrest. I am still grieving the loss of my sweet and precious James who I had been married to for almost 47 years but when you think of the years before, we had known one another for 50. He was my everything and my whole world has been a nightmare since. I am trying to learn to do everything on my own but living alone is torture, a life sentence of solitary confinement and people who were once there offering support are long gone. I can only put my faith and trust in the Lord and so that is what I do everyday. For those who knew James there at Olympus, those were fun years and we loved that school and all the wonderful memories it gave us. God bless each one of you who are reading this and never take anything for granted. I will always love you my sweetheart and you will always be in my heart. You are at peace now and how I envy you to be free of all the earthly cares and residing with our Lord.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=JamesBanta&pid=189872234&fhid=1