Jim Spano

Jim Spano was born in Denver on January 29, 1957 to his proud parents, Fern & Tedo. Jim attended the Arvada schools and proved to be very intelligent and artistic. He graduated in 1975 and started college, but after one year he decided that was enough of that. In January of 1976 he met Roger and in February they bought a home together and have been partners ever since. A year later, Jim and Roger opened a flower shop and named it Fresh Petals Floral. It was a struggle, but with hard work the business began to grow. Jim was a restless spirit and always wanted more out of life. Jim wanted a big addition to their home, so Jim and Roger stated building. They worked days at the flower shop and nights building their house. With Jim nothing could be simple, so of course the outside of the house had to be built with 22 tons of moss rock. So they started the first of the rock and Roger said, ""Jim, I think we should nail and wire each rock as we put them up and mortar around them"". And Jim says, ""Oh that's a lot of extra work and it isn't necessary."" Roger says, ""Okay – whatever."" Well they had rocked up to about six feet high on the first section and Jim was leaning down to pick up another rock when BAM, a rock fell and hit Jim on the top of his head. Jim was dazed and seeing stars. He says to Roger, ""I think we should nail and wire each rock."" Roger says, ""Think so?"" but now I know how to get through that thick head of yours. Well, two years later the house was finished. Then in 1984, we had a bad hail storm with baseball size hail and a lot of damage. Insurance paid $20, 000.00 dollars so Jim and Roger decided to do the repairs themselves so they could have about half of the insurance money. So, as they did the work, Jim was really worried about one thing—how he was going to spend that $10, 000.00. He finally figured it out and said to Roger, ""We're going to Hawaii."" So off they went and Jim totally fell in love with Hawaii. What was to have been a four day trip soon turned into a week, then 2 weeks, then 3 weeks and now the money was gone and they returned home, but Jim was already planning the next trip back. So for the next 15 years they closed the store for 6 weeks each year and explored Hawaii. Jim always had to be creating so they started doing sand sculptures, and with Jim I'm not talking about a little sand castle. No, it had to be grand! So they started sculpting dolphins, whales, turtles, starfish, and other sea life. And for Halloween they sculpted pumpkins, witches hats, tombstones and so on. And for Jim it had to be the biggest show on the beach, and it was. So much so, that they ended up being filmed in Hawaii and put on television and even made the front page of the Honolulu Star Bulletin Newspaper. It was a happy time for Jim because now he was known around Honolulu. Jim also loved to fish. He was always checking the calendar and saying ""We don't have any orders booked for this weekend or that one so let's head for the mountains."" So they packed up the motor home and headed for the hills and as always 2 or 3 days turned into a week because Jim would keep saying—""Let's stay just one more day."" And honestly for Jim – work was a bad 4 letter word. Jim was also a fabulous cook. He learned from his Mom and Grandma Spano. He took the time in his early years to learn and write their recipes and all the secrets to being a good cook. Roger always told Jim—""Rachel Ray hasn't got anything on you. You could be a top chef."" Jim lived a good life and there are so many memories of him that I could talk forever. He will be greatly missed but never gone because he will live in our hearts forever. Please share memories of Jim and/or condolences for his family by clicking the ""Sign Guestbook"" tab below.