James "Jim" Patrick Pingree

James Pingree Obituary

James "Jim" Patrick Pingree, 73, of Fort Washakie, Wyoming, died on May 23, 2026, at his home of 26 years. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, 2026, in the Rocky Mountain Hall, 19 North Fork Road, Fort Washakie, Wyoming. Wake Services will be held at 7 pm on Friday, May 29, 2026, in the Rocky Mountain Hall, and from there he will be transported to his home for an all-night wake service located at 390 Trout Creek Road, Fort Washakie, Wyoming. His Graveside Services will be held at the family residence after the funeral.

James was born on March 17, 1953, to Chester Pingree, Sr. and Irene Pingree in Lander, WY. He attended elementary at Fort Washakie School, then briefly attended boarding school in Mission, SD, before finishing up his schooling at Flandreau Indian School, in Flandreau, SD, where he met the love of his life, Mary Ellen. He briefly attended school at University of Wyoming for a year before he returned home to the Wind River Indian Reservation.

From there he enlisted in the US Navy for about a year where he did recruit training in San Diego, Califonia. Then did Constructionman Apprentice School at the Naval Construction Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, he then did military training and transient work at the 31st Naval Construction Regiment in Port Hueneme, California before being honorably discharged on September 26, 1975.

James was, as his family would say, a "Jack of all trades." After the services, he then moved on to become a firefighter, he worked on the oil rigs, did some work in seismography, before then working for the BIA Road department, before ending his work career as a Tribal Cultural Monitor for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. He then went on to retire with his wife and children. In his free time, Jim loved hunting, fishing, planting and growing trees and plants, picking berries with his children, playing video games with his boys, watching his son Willow sing at powwows, showing his son Uziel how to do things outside, bickering and terrorizing his daughter Kelly, but above all, he loved caring and providing for his wife, Mary Ellen. He enjoyed sitting in his recliner watching YouTube and his favorite shows, such as The Munsters, Gunsmoke, MASH, Deadliest Catch, The Rifleman, Alaskan Gold Rush, and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

He enjoyed attending powwows, peyote meetings, hand and stick games, Indian relay racing, and he was a Sundancer. But mostly, he loved being with his kids, his wife, and especially his partner in crime, his great-granddaughter Ina Michele Brown, but above all James loved making people laugh.

James was preceded in death by his parents, Chester Pingree, Sr., and Irene Pingree; paternal grandparents, Jamie Pingree and Alice Peahora; maternal grandparents, Hunting and Viola Hill; aunts; Anna Snoyo, Rose Niedo, Elsie Norah, Eleanor Perry, Zethel Nephi, Pansy St. Clair, Mildred Weeks, Florence Mcleod, June Hill; uncles, Harrison Shoyo, Sr., Calvin Pingree, Robert and Danny Peahora, Ernest, Sonny, Willie, Wayne, and Frank Hill, Starr Weed, Sr. and Herman Weed; sisters, Antoinette Pingree, Lavonne Roanhorse, Cathy StandingRock, Marilyn Roberts, and Becky Pingree; brothers, Darwin and Zane Niedo, Harrison Shoyo, Jr., Randy Shoyo, Roland Peahora, and Dean Shoyo; nephew, John Hunter Pingree; niece, Juniper Dunlap.

Survivors include; his lifelong wife of 56 years Mary Ellen Pingree; aunty mom, Katherine Shakespeare; his kids, Willow Pingree, Kelly Jenkins, and Uziel Brown; partner in crime, Ina Michele Brown; siblings, Chester Pingree, Sr., Adrienne Dunlap, John Pingree, and Mona Compton; and various members of the Pingree, Hill, Niedo, Shoyo, Peahora, Wagon, Perry, Large, Braman, Weed, St. Clair, Pogue, Tillman, Aoah, Tidzump, McAdams, Panzetanga, Norah, Track, Davis, Stanford, Truman, Ballard, and Mckinley families. The family apologizes for any name left out or forgotten, he had a huge family and many people who loved him.

Please sign the online guestbook: hudsonsfh.com.