James Quinney Muir

In Loving Memory of James Quinney Muir

July 2, 1951 – April 22, 2025

We said goodbye far too quickly. What began as a quiet battle behind the scenes turned into a heartbreaking and rapid farewell. Our dad, James Muir, was only recently diagnosed with advanced metastatic melanoma. Within weeks, we found ourselves witnessing the final stages of his life. He passed away on April 22, 2025, surrounded by family and love. His sudden departure has left a deep ache in our hearts, but our lives remain full of the legacy he built, one of faith, creativity, service, and love.

James was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Katherine Gale Millard and Milton Barlow Muir Jr. He was raised in Millcreek, where he discovered his love for music, carpentry, and the thrill of swinging on a rope over the stream in Mill Creek Canyon. He graduated from Skyline High School in 1969. He often reminisced about his 1968 GTO, which he later sold to his younger brother. He formed a rock band and performed at local dances, including at the iconic Old Mill. He composed original music even then, a spark of his lifelong creative fire. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chicago, Illinois.

James had a passion for the gospel that never yielded to the opinions of others. He pursued the truth at all costs. His relationship with the Savior was truly formed sometime after his mission when he bought a Pontiac for 15 bucks and drove to California, on his way he brokdown just before Las Vegas and there in the dark he reached out to the Lord in heartfelt prayer. Throughout his life, Dad openly and often bore his testimony, and witness of God's loving hand in his life. He tirelessly studied scripture and prophecy, and his faith was at the center of all he did.

In 1984, he married, Esperanza Pretelt, they had 5 children who they raised in Bountiful, Utah. He always worked hard to support his family. No matter his work, he always had carpentry in his back pocket. He finished the basement in our home, and served with his ability to build in many ways. Ultimately, he retired after 16 years with the U.S. Postal Service. In every job, he was known for outworking everyone else, his hands were never idle, and his mind never far from solving the next problem.

But his most meaningful work happened at home. Dad was a craftsman, a dreamer, and a builder of wonder. He constructed a backyard castle with a watchtower, a stage with a trapdoor for our magic shows. One unforgettable Christmas, we received gifts that had been crafted entirely by his hands: a loft bed, a shelf with tiny drawers, a jewelry box, a beanie baby barn. He told the most imaginative bedtime stories, most notably the story of Bumble-Bee-Butt.

He was a game master, a strategic thinker who loved chess and developed toys and games that he sold to families. He even pitched an early version of air hockey to Brunswick Corporation, years before they released their own version…something we’ll always jokingly remember as “our dad invented air hockey.”

Dad was also a musician, self-taught and incredibly gifted. In the early 1970s, he lived in Los Angeles and played bass guitar in multiple bands. One of his most memorable performances was at the Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day. When he returned to Utah, he taught himself piano without using the sustain pedal, which drove his mother, an elementary piano teacher, crazy. In time, he learned to play Debussy’s Clair de Lune from sheet music on an aluminum spinet harp piano and performed it beautifully at his brother’s missionary homecoming. Music remained one of his great loves.

After retirement, Dad became an Uber driver and found real joy in the stories of the strangers he met. He often shared those stories with us, and it was clear how much he loved this unique opportunity to talk someone’s ear off. Every ride was a chance to meet someone as interested in the gospel as he was, and you better believe he would find out by the end of their ride.

The main way dad showed that he cared was to be helpful. Dad was the one you could always call day or night if you were moving, stuck on the side of the road, or needed something fixed. He loved to help, and if he didn’t know how, he’d figure it out. That applied to strangers too. Once, on the way to pick up our sister from the airport, he saw a man stranded on the roadside. He pulled over, drove the man to get gas, and brought him back to his car. That was just who he was

.Dad’s gospel study only deepened with time. He spent countless hours at the Church History Library, writing and researching. He authored multiple gospel-focused books including The Wonders of Eternity, The Story in Stone: The Art of God, and Five Years in Zion. Though they weren’t formally published, he printed copies and eagerly shared them with anyone ready to dive deep into doctrine. He truly believed the mountains held sacred messages, and his writings explored what he called “scripture stories written in stone.”

Even in his final week of life, Dad was still writing a paper on The Baptism of Fire and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Of all his creations, none meant more to him than his original theatrical musical: A Moment in Time. Over three years, Dad wrote the entire libretto, composed over two hours of music, and created a powerful script about the return of the Ten Lost Tribes. He said the process felt like a wave of divine momentum that carried him. The result was a prophetic and powerful work of art. You can listen to selections from it on his SoundCloud page.

He wrote:  “The musical play A Moment in Time stands out from everything else I have ever done as monumental and a pure gift. At times it seemed as though my hands were purposely placed upon the keys to fumble into things that caused my ears to hear and open up to a level of creativity that astounds me still.”

“A Moment in Time is about the return of the Lost Ten Tribes in power, after getting up to speed as a Zion society, before (the finale) their prophets smite the rocks and the ice flows down and the earth opens, and they cast up the deep and the everlasting hills tremble at their presence, emerging in a highway, marshaled arms, and hauling great treasures, singing praise with them.” (D&C 133:26–32; Jeremiah 16:14–15; Isaiah 66:18)

“After fifteen years I still think the music is superb and over-the-top. If I listen and really think of it deeply and the emotions of it all it still moves me to tears.”

In his later years, he played an active role in helping raise his grandkids. Teaching them all kinds of things like the guitar, how to use tools, how to play games like chess, darts and baseball. He always had stories to tell them, he was funny and goofy grandpa Jim. The day before he passed, Infact he asked his only grandson to arm wrestle him, JJ says he didn’t let him win but Dad still won, he was strong to the end. 

He built JJ a sandbox and a treehouse, and when JJ got older, he helped him learn how to use an axe and even supervised while they cut down a tree. He played chess with them, taught them how to fish, even if they never caught anything, and he made crepes every time Abby asked, something she loved and will miss. Crepes were his signature dish, and no one made them like Grandpa. He picked his grandkids up from school, got them to where they needed to go, and showed up in every possible way.

If dad taught us anything at all, it was how to take care of our mother, Esperanza. His love and devotion to her through thick and thin were a testament to the truest form of devotion and love. He honored her from the way he opened her door, to how quickly he would run to the store to buy her one item at any time of night. They were inseparable, always going for drives and out to lunch, or just to share a Coke. We will miss most how silly and unpredictable he was with her and the way only he could make her smile. We hope to do our very best to continue to care for her, take her out, and make her smile, until our mom and dad can be together once more. 

James is survived by our mom, Esperanza Pretelt Muir, and by his children: Michelle Balliett, Andrea Pettingill (Tim), Monica Muir LaTorre, Jason Muir, and Ashleigh Muir. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Jedidiah Jackson, Abigail, Scarlett, Emma, Violet, and Samantha; and by his siblings: Joseph, Katheryne (Kalani MacGill), and David (Cheri). He was preceded in death by his brother John (2022).

A public viewing will be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Lindquist’s Bountiful Mortuary, 727 N 400 E, Bountiful, UT. A graveside service will follow at 11:00 a.m. at the Bountiful City Cemetery.

We extend our deepest thanks to Layton Community Nursing Services, who helped care for Dad with such tenderness in his final weeks at home in Syracuse.

Due to the speed of his decline, we are reaching out to extended family and friends for help covering funeral and memorial expenses. Donations may be made to Jason Muir’s Venmo @JasonMuir81 

Finally, if you find yourself gazing at the mountains and see something formed by the shifting light and shadows we hope you’ll think of James Muir. He believed the Lord had written His stories into the stones. And now, we see our dad there too.

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