On February 15, 2024 we lost a great friend of the farm and an even greater human – James Haim. He left this world suddenly and tragically and much too soon.
I first met James twenty years ago when he moved with his family to Williams. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but almost instantly I felt like he was one of my best friends and the heart of the community. Over the next two decades I had the honor of working with James on many projects at White Oak: we hosted his classes of high school students for 3-day field trips, taught natural building workshops, built cabins and cob ovens, rafted the rogue river, sang in saunas and sweat lodges, and walked and talked in the woods. James served on our Board of Directors for 18 years and was our President for the past ten. He led us with passion, wisdom, patience, and a sly smile. He was a profound role model for me for the way he lived his life in service to others and the earth while making the most of the beauty of every day. This June we were honored to host a celebration of life with James’ huge community of friends and family. We gathered in the orchard to laugh and cry and share stories of the ways our lives had been touched and made brighter by his friendship. James loved bringing people together in community and in nature, and so we did just that to celebrate his remarkable and inspiring life. -with love, Taylor
Here is what his family wrote to remember James: Son, brother, father, partner, and dear friend to so many- James’ light shone bright in the myriad of roles he played throughout his big and beautiful life. James was known for his boundless energy, contagious laughter, wide-open heart, and his deep gratitude for the humbling beauty of 
wild places. Whether on a river, a mountain, a slope off trail, or a meadow sprinkled in wildflowers, James embodied a sense of wonder, inviting others to play and drop more deeply into their hearts. Whether teaching, raising his daughters, co-creating the Wilderness Charter School, building, sitting in a circle, or floating rivers with his buddies, he brought a playful and loving presence to all he did. James was a man of many talents: a remarkable whistler, juggler, power napper, paddler, wood crafter, pesto maker, and sun seeker, to name just a few. Rarely in a rush and somehow always on time, with his remarkable physicality James danced through the web of life touching hearts wherever he landed.
