Obituary of Adam James Nagyl

ADAM JAMES NAGYL SUCCUMBED TO OLD AGE ON SUNDAY JULY 21ST 2024 AT THE ETOBICOKE GENERAL HOSPITAL. HE WAS 84 YEARS OLD. HE WAS A LONG-TIME RESIDENT OF ETOBICOKE.

JIM OR JIMMY, AS HE WAS AFFECTIONLY KNOWN, WAS BORN ON JUNE 16TH, 1941. HE WAS BORN IN TISDALE, SASKATCHEWAN (THE OLDEST OF THREE SONS) AND WAS RAISED ON THE FAMILY FARM IN PORCUPINE PLAIN, SASKATCHEWAN. HE WAS PREDECESED BY HIS MOTHER LENA NAGYL AND HIS FATHER JOHN NAGYL. JIM IS SURVIVED BY THE FOLLOWING: HIS WIFE ELAINE NAGYL, HIS BROTHERS NORMAN AND MATTHEW NAGYL, HIS STEPSON STEPHEN MCDONALD AND PARTNER PAULINA MCDONALD AND HIS GRANDSONS STEPHEN JR AND AARON. HE ALSO HAS THE FOLLOWING SURVIVING NIECES AND NEPHEWS: MARK, AMANDA, JONATHON, JODY, KIM AND LANA AS WELL AS THEIR CHILDREN.

GROWING UP ON THE FARM WITH HIS BROTHERS AND PARENTS, JIM ENJOYED PLANTING AND REAPING VARIOUS CROPS AND HUNTING (AND EATING) RABBITS. HIS STEPSON STEPHEN SAID HIS EYES WOULD LIGHT UP WHEN HE TOLD STORIES ABOUT GROWING UP ON THE FARM. JIM ALSO ENJOYED FISHING AND SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY (AND EATING HAMBURGERS AND STEAK). HIS MOTHER INTRODUCED HIM TO THE BIBLE AND HELPED HIM TO DEVELOP AN INTEREST IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, ALTHOUGH HE DIDN’T PURSUE THIS RIGHT AWAY. AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, JIM DID A PARTIAL METEOROLOGIST COURSE. HE ALSO DID ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN SASKATCHEWAN. JAMES ALSO DROVE A PULP TRUCK BETWEEN LA ROUGE AND PRINCE ALBERT, SK. JIM OWNED AND OPERATED HIS OWN TAXI IN LA ROUGE. AT SOME POINT, JIM WAS ALSO A DOOR-TO-DOOR SALESMAN.

ALTHOUGH HE TREASURED HIS TIME GROWING UP WITH HIS BROTHERS AND PARENTS ON THE FARM, HE ALWAYS WANTED THE CITY LIFE. SO, IN 1968 JIM MOVED TO TORONTO AND STARTED TO WORK FOR MONARCH FINE FOODS. HE ALSO RAN A DISCO IN TORONTO FOR A PERIOD OF TIME. ELAINE AND JIM MET IN THE LATE 1990’S. SHE WAS UNLIKE ANY OTHER WOMAN HE HAD EVER MET. AS HE OFTEN WENT BACK HOME TO VISIT HIS FAMILY IN SASKATCHEWAN, IN 2001 HE TOOK ELAINE WITH HIM. THEY WERE ENGAGED AUGUST 7TH, 2001 AND GOT MARRIED A WEEK LATER ON AUGUST 14TH 2001 AT THE FARM HE GREW UP ON IN PORCUPINE PLAIN, SURROUNDED BY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. ELAINE LOYALLY TOOK CARE OF JIM UNTIL THE END OF HIS LIFE. THEY HAD MANY ADVENTURES TOGETHER DOING THINGS JIM ALWAYS ENJOYED—TRAVELLING, MEETING NEW PEOPLE, TELLING JOKES (SOME OF THEM A LITTLE CORNY, AT TIMES VEXXING ELAINE), NOTICING THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE THAT WE GET TOO BUSY TO SEE AND HELPING PEOPLE. LENA WAS A LOVING AND DEVOTED MOTHER. JIM OFTEN MISSED HIS MOTHER’S HOME-COOKED MEALS.

ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS LENA GAVE JIM WAS AN INTRODUCTION TO JEHOVAH GOD AND A LOVE OF SPIRITUAL THINGS. ON A RAINY APRIL DAY IN 1991 OR 1992, A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS NAMED BRYAN CALLED ON JIM’S HOME IN ETOBICOKE. EVERY TIME BRYAN MET JIM, JIM HAD MANY GOOD QUESTIONS. SO BRYAN TOLD JIM HE NEEDED A BIBLE STUDY AND JIM AGREED. IT TOOK JIM A WHILE, BUT ONCE HE DECIDED TO MAKE THE TRUTH HIS OWN, HE NEVER LOOKED BACK. DESPITE SOME SEVERE DIFFICULTIES, HE DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO JEHOVAH HIS GOD AND WAS BAPTIZED IN 1993. BRYAN SAID IT WAS A PLEASURE STUDYING WITH JAMES. JIM TOOK HIS DEDICATION TO JEHOVAH VERY SERIOUSLY. HE WAS AN AVID STUDENT OF THE BIBLE AND SPENT MUCH TIME SUPPORTING THE VOLUNTEER PREACHING WORK. HE COULD OFTEN BE OBSERVED WITH HIS LITTLE NOTEBOOK AND SMALL PENCIL WITH WHICH HE KEPT CAREFUL NOTES ABOUT PEOPLE WHOM HE FOUND HAD AN INTEREST IN SPIRITUAL THINGS.

JAMES WAS KNOWN FOR HELPING ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, SUCH AS HELPING OLDER ONES IN THE LOCAL CONGREGATION GET TO THE WEEKLY MEETINGS WHERE THEY COULD BE ENCOURAGED BY SPIRITUAL INFORMATION AND ASSOCIATION WITH THEIR BROTHERS AND SISTERS. JEHOVAH SAW IN JIM A VERY KIND, LOVING, APPRECIATIVE, GENEROUS PERSON WHO WAS CONSCIENCE OF HIS SPIRITUAL NEEDS. ALL OF THOSE WHO HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF KNOWING JIM THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, SAW THOSE QUALITIES AS WELL. JIM HELD DEAR THE HOPE THAT JEHOVAH WOULD NOT FORGET HIM AND WOULD RECREATE HIM IN A PERFECT HUMAN BODY, AS A YOUNG MAN AGAIN THAT ELAINE AND ALL OF HIS RELATIVES AND FRIENDS WOULD RECOGNIZE, BACK ON A PARADISE EARTH TO ENJOY “THE REAL LIFE”.

JIM BELIEVED THAT THIS IS WHAT JEHOVAH’S ORIGINAL PURPOSE WAS FOR HIM. THE FOLLOWING IS ONE OF THE SCRIPTURES JIM USED WHEN TALKING TO OTHERS IN HIS MINISTRY: “IF A MAN DIES, CAN HE LIVE AGAIN? I WILL WAIT ALL THE DAYS OF MY COMPULSORY SERVICE UNTIL MY RELIEF COMES. YOU (JEHOVAH) WILL CALL, AND I (IN THIS CASE JIM) WILL ANSWER YOU. YOU WILL LONG (OR YEARN) FOR THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS” JOB 14:14, 15. JIM BELIEVED THAT ONCE HE DIED, HE WOULD BE IN A SLEEP-LIKE STATE, NOT SUFFERING AND UNAWARE OF THE PASSAGE OF TIME UNTIL JEHOVAH HIS GOD “YEARNED” TO BRING JIM BACK TO LIFE ON THE EARTH AT THE RIGHT TIME AND BE UNITED WITH HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY. JIM WOULD WANT ALL OF HIS LOVED ONES AND FRIENDS TO BE CONFORTED BY THESE TRUTHS HE BELIEVED FROM THE BIBLE, AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME.

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED JIM AND ELAINE THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIME AND TO ALL THOSE WHO WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE ELAINE STRENGTH TO GO ON INTO THE FUTURE. YOU ARE ALL VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. FINALLY, ONE OF THE JOKES JIM TOLD (THAT WOULD VEX ELAINE, BUT SHE FOUND THIS ONE FUNNY): WHAT DID THE CAMEL TELL THE HUMP ON THE ROAD? I AM HUMP FREE