Show us your Glycine Airman!

Sorry for being so slow to respond, Jim.

Your contact in the Netherlands is who I said was in Denmark. Bad memory on my park.

I don't recall the Bangkok contact. This was in a thread awhile ago and I haven't found it yet. Maybe more bad information. I'll keep looking.

This is very sad and unexpected, even though James was 88.

His daughter said there will be a graveside memorial at 100pm on January 5th at Walton's cemetery in Carson City. All are welcome.

James passed away quickly from stage 4 liver cancer. He only learned of the cancer about two weeks ago. His daughter and her husband came to care for him and she said he passed quickly.

James was still riding his motorcycles as recently as this summer. His real passion was riding. James and his brother Frank started a Hells Angels chapter in California back in the 50s. James said it wasn't like today, but just about riding and friends. It wasn't anything he talked about, unless you asked. It was part of his past and didn't define him. But it helped to understand him.

James recently bought a button machine. He would go to rally in Carson City and elsewhere in Nevada to had them out. He was very active politically and working for a better society. He wasn't one to sit on his hands and quietly complain.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get to know him a little, but am very sad that there won't be more stories and time.

They say you should never meet your heros. That wasn't true for James. He's still my hero.



James setting a speed record with his buddy in the side car


One of his buttons.

James Richard Sadilek​

March 13, 1937 - December 27,2025​

James Richard Sadilek was born March 3, 1937, in Sacramento CA to Frank and Lucille Sadilek. Childhood homes included Sacramento CA; Reno NV, where his father died; and San Luis Obispo CA, where he graduated from high school. His widowed mother remarried, adding
stepbrothers John and Dennis Schweble.

He married Doreen Burn January 16, 1956, staying together over 60 years, through moves, motorcycles, and adventures, until Doreen’s death June 14, 2017.

Jim’s many careers included several stints repairing watches, opening a watch repair and jewelry store in Hawaii; general contractor building homes on the Big Island (once they knew you, a handshake was a contract); motorcycle mechanic; dealer in Las Vegas; mechanic for Caltrans in Northern California, once helicoptered in with tools to fix a piece of road equipment and drive it out (he did); and machinist for the automotive parts maker Mallory in Carson City, designing and creating machines that streamlined production.

Already a well-experienced rider, Jim won sidecar motorcycle races in the 1960s with Mark Strong as passenger (aka monkey) balancing the sidecar, recalling there’s a big difference between winning and second place, continuing to ride motorcycles until he fell ill this fall. In recent years he rode to Reno for meetings of an antique motorcycle group, quipping that antique could describe both the motorcycles and the riders. He rode supporting bicyclists in organized rides, including around Tahoe. Before that he bicycled in organized rides, one year the oldest to finish the Death Ride, then 129 miles long with 16,000 of climb, and lived long enough to finally win bicycle races in his age group. He became head of Carson City’s Search and Rescue the first day of 1997, as an atmospheric river dissolved a heavy snowpack,
flooding parts of town, Jim leading the team to help wherever needed, finally getting home a day or two later.

Jim’s quiet modesty cloaked his whip smart intelligence, only a small smile and blue-eyed twinkle giving him away.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, wife, and stepbrothers. He is survived by his stepdaughter Elizabeth Tait (Kenneth) of Ely NV, good friend Mara Thiessen Jones of Carson City, granddaughter Shehekea Gravley of California, five great-grandchildren, including
Dylan Tait of Ely, and several nieces and nephews.

Jim and Doreen became Baha’i in 1972, Jim giving the morning prayer for the Nevada State Legislature at least once. The Baha’i community will lead a graveside service, open to all, in Lone Mountain Cemetery at 1:00 pm on January 5, 2026.

In 2025, Jim put his button machine to use, making and giving away hundreds of buttons. If you received a full size button at a rally in front of the Legislature, chances are it was Jim’s, please wear it in his memory.

https://www.recordcourier.com/obituaries/2025/dec/30/james-sadilek/


Edit: interview with James
https://eternaltools.com/blogs/horology/watchmaker-and-repairer-jim-sadilek