Jim Kehoe

True, Jim Kehoe isn’t a mother, but he’s a parent to sixteen “foster-pseudo-ortho-children” (his words, not ours… two sons, three “adopted” sons & everyone’s significant others and children). Every Sunday he cooks for the whole family (all sixteen!) and works very hard to appeal to the vegetarians, vegans, non-spicy eaters and highly allergic in the group. That’s why we felt if anyone deserves to be an honorary Mother of the Month, it’s Jim! Jim was born in Sacramento, California in 1949 and from the age of two grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. He’s the oldest of four boys and was frequently recruited by his live-in grandmother to help in the kitchen.

During college he got a job in a fraternity, then a sorority house as a “hasher” (someone who cooks, serves, busses and cleans up after the girls). When his boss had back surgery and never came back, Jim was left to feed 37 girls on his own. They thankfully found someone to take on the job full-time and Jim returned his focus to studying geography at the University of Colorado.

He joined the Navy while in college and was a surface recovery officer for Apollo 17 and Skylab missions during his tenure.  He was stationed in Alaska as a recruiting officer when he met his future wife, Brenda, in 1975. They moved to San Francisco after his tour of duty. He went to graduate school in Flagstaff, Arizona for water resources administration, thinking he wanted to be a Federal Hydrologist. In 1979 Brenda began medical school at OHSU and Jim took a job at a window a and door company. When the company “sold out” to a big corporation, Jim, some friends and co-workers started their own business, Portland Millwork (making windows, doors and millwork products for residential and light commercial use).

Jim is a born musician and plays guitar and piano by ear. He still plays with band mates he played with back in the 80’s, getting together weekly in his basement to jam.  We hope you enjoy!