Dwight Kimsey Mims, 81, passed away Nov. 21, at a hospital in Meridian, Idaho. Dwight was born Oct. 21, 1936, in Ted, Smith County, Miss., to Roy Otis Mims Sr. and Lena Susie (Chisholm) Mims. Dwight’s middle name came from a Mr. Kimsey who was a close friend and neighbor of his parents when they lived and worked in Detroit, Mich.  Mr. Kimsey was a division head of Ford Motor Co. in the 1920s. Dwight joined four other children in the home, and later, the family grew by three more children.

The family moved to Louin, Miss., in a few years, and Dwight attended school there. He then began working in a saw mill owned by a relative, Felix Bassett. He worked at his grandparents’ farm with Ted, and for Mr. R.A. Wooten at a plant that made well curbing and cement blocks. He and his siblings spent a lot of days hunting and fishing in the swamps close to home.

Dwight frequently said that, “If there was such a thing as reincarnation, he had been born in Oregon in another time, as he wanted to live there as far back as he could remember.” His father and oldest brother had relocated to Gilchrist, and then to Burns, so at age 19, Dwight boarded a bus and made the trip also. For several years when first in Oregon, Dwight worked with his dad and brother cutting and delivering firewood to several local businesses and residents.

In June of 1956, he went to work at Edward Hines Lumber Co., where he worked until June of 1974 when he transferred to Hines logging crews. He had only minimal breaks from that employment starting in 1968 doing thinning contracts with lifelong coworker and good friend, Ike Williams, and others.  One of his first purchases was a 1953 Harley Davidson in 1974. This, and being from the South, earned him the nickname “The Rebel”.

In June of 1958, he married Barbara Parker of Burns. They had one son, Emery. Dwight and Barbara later divorced, and in November 1970, Dwight married Lynn Harris of Burns.

After the Edward Hines mill closed, Dwight spent about four years working on his own small ranch at Harney, and some haying contract work and one logging job as a limb-saw operator.  Then in 1984, he started working for Jim Howden of H & H Logging where he was employed until 1996.

After 1999, Dwight and Lynn spent winters in Pendleton where she worked at H & R Block.  Dwight made several good friends there at the RV Park and at the coffee group.  He loved the Oregon outdoors: rock hounding with his dad and brothers, deer and elk hunting, and most of all, fishing. No stream or lake was too remote or too small for this guy. In later years, he expanded to boat fishing and spent a lot of time on Brownlee and Owyhee Reservoirs, and the Columbia River. Over the last 25 years, he enjoyed many camping trips with brother, Bill, and his wife, Velda. Several were to Mississippi to visit family and to do a lot of sightseeing.

Dwight is survived by his wife of 47 years, Lynn; son, Emery Mims and wife, Marlene, of Portland; grandson, Emery Aaron Mims of Vancouver, Wash.; brother, Carl B. “Bill” Mims and wife, Velda, of Burns; sisters, Nell Sumrall and husband, Charles, of Buna, Texas, Lena Evelyn Pilgrim of Bay Springs, Miss., and Minnie Joyce Baughman and husband, Russell, of Moss, Miss.; stepsister, Patti Anderson; and many nieces and nephews and their families.

An outdoor celebration of life will be held in Burns in late spring.