James Clark Sida

Jim was born July 24, 1949, in Los Angeles, CA to Lee and Lenora Sida. Jim was the 4th of five children, and the youngest boy. Jim grew up in Los Angeles and said many times over the years how much he loved his childhood. He was very fond of his neighborhood and he always described his life there as being like the movie Pleasantville.
Jim went to Dahlia Heights Elementary and graduated high school at Eagle Rock High School in the summer of 1967, with the class of "The Terranovan's". Their high school had class names and a summer and winter graduation. Jim said that he "never even took a pencil to class" and has no idea to this day how he graduated!
After high school, Jim's Dad pushed him to "learn a trade", so Jim went to American Barber College and become a barber. He worked at Little Joe's Barbering in Highland Park. Jim hadn't worked at Little Joe's long when Uncle Sam came calling and he received his draft notice. It was 1968 and Jim knew that with the Viet Nam war going on that he would soon be on the way to the military. True to form, Jim did not want the government deciding anymore of his future than they already had, so he headed down and signed up for the Navy.
The Navy sent him to all the training they felt was necessary and then shipped him off to Japan where he served his full military requirement. While in Japan, Jim married a young woman named Kayoko Ayabe. This union would later produce a son named James B. Sida, known as "Ben".
Eventually Jim and Kayoko made their way to Los Angeles where Jim attended L.A. City College and Cal State L.A. on the GI bill. Once he graduated, he began to look for a job. He started applying and testing with law enforcement agencies which lead him to the Kern County Sheriff's Department in Bakersfield, where he was hired in 1977.
Jim rose to the rank of Commander and during the course of re-assignments that happen with promotions, he met Karla, who was employed at the Sheriff's Department. Jim and Karla were married June 15, 1991.
The Board of Corrections in Sacramento wanted to "borrow" Jim from the County of Kern for a year, so it was off to Sacramento. While there, his boss encouraged him to take the State test and stay with him, so that is what he did. Jim was promoted to Deputy Director, and he settled in great in Sacramento. They were in Sacramento 12 years and then he decided to retire.
That retirement took Jim and Karla to Nevada where they have been for the last 17 years. Jim just couldn't seem to retire, so Jim and a fellow co-worker from Sacramento opened a consulting business and they were so busy they were turning work down. Eventually, Jim went solo and concentrated on jail suicides and homicides as an expert witness/consultant, which is what he was still doing until October 2020.
Jim always said he had done so much in his life he couldn't believe it. He was always up for anything or going anywhere and would say "it's interesting to be interested" and to always "be curious in life". He loved people, he loved life, and he loved to travel. Jim and Karla's travels took them to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England and to many places in the U.S.
Jim was loved so much by his siblings and he will be missed dearly by his surviving siblings, his sister, Lenora "Doogie" Costello and her husband Robert "Red" Costello, his brother Cary "Doc" Sida and his wife Carol Sida and his little sister Margie Hartung.
Jim will be deeply missed by his son James "Ben" Sida and his loving wife of 30 years, Karla Sida.
Additionally, Jim is survived by many friends, nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws and best friends, Marc and Pat.
Jim's life was a life well lived and the giant hole left in our lives today will never be filled.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.