James Marlowe Middendorf passed away on July 27, 2026, in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He was born on November 26, 1973, in Gadsden, Alabama. The youngest of three siblings, Jim was welcomed into the Middendorf family in July of 1978.

In August of 2016, Jim married Brittany Grundy, and the couple welcomed Rubye Mae in June of 2020. Jim was a doting father, and Rubye Mae knew her dad loved her and gave the greatest hugs.

Jimmy brought energy to every room and made friends in every school, every church, every neighborhood, and every situation. Always carrying a deep sense of fairness and justice, Jim maintained a deep concern for those on the margins of society and was willing to share anything he had with someone in need.

We'll forever remember Jim's many tattoos. With them, Jim displayed names and dates, aspirational messages, narrated moments of joy and pain, the ache of unfairness, pictures of his life and what he wanted us to know about his life. His body was a canvas. More specifically, his body was a variety of canvases, each telling a different story from a different chapter in his life. The variety of canvases told a variety of stories, stories that might conflict and contradict, but that's where Jim lived and loved- in the tension between contradictory stories of life and death, light and darkness, joy and pain, hope and despair. Jim was not alone. So many of us live in these same tensions. May God give us grace -to give grace- to all trying to navigate complicated, painful lives.

Jim is survived by his two children, Christopher Monsour of Gilbert, Arizona, and Rubye Mae Middendorf of Jacksonville; 2 grandchildren, Cash and Hunter Monsour of Gilbert, Arizona; his father, Jesse Middendorf; his siblings, Jon Middendorf and wife Kelly from Edmond, Oklahoma and Marlo Orton and husband Rocky of Olathe, Kansas; extended family, Wendell Marlowe and wife Sheila of Mount Juliet, Tennessee; and a host of nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to OKC First Church, 4400 NW Expressway, OKC, OK 73116 (okcfirst.com). 100% of all donations will be divided between our two partners serving those recovering from addiction: Alcoholics Anonymous of Oklahoma City and Oxford House.