James P Prudhome

James Patrick Prudhome, 68, of La Crosse, died Friday, May 23, 2014 after a brief fight with cancer at Bethany St. Joseph Health Care Center. He was born January 10, 1946 in Calumet, Michigan to Fred and Mary (Malvey) Prudhome. In Jim's early years the family moved to La Crosse so Fred could work for Mathy Construction. He attended Aquinas High School where he excelled as a member of the Track and field teams. Upon graduation from Aquinas he attended The University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. While at UWL he was a member of the National Guard. He also served two years as President of Beta Sigma Chi fraternity. Jim began volunteering as a Track & Field coachat Aquinas while he was a Junior at UWL. Upon graduation with Bachelor's Degrees in Economics and Psychology, Aquinas offered him a teaching position. He pursued his teaching and coaching career at Aquinas from 1970-1992 during which time Aquinas won 51 CWCC Boys & Girls Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field and Cross Country Titles in addition to 3 Boysand 5Girls WISAA State Titles. Jim served as Head Coach from 1986 until 1992 when he retired. He also organized and coached the first Ski Team at Aquinas. He remained a life-long friend to many of his students and colleagues. After his retirment from teaching, he worked at Prudential as an Investment Advisor, a Warranty Manager for Wettstein's and, at the time of his illness, wasthe Office Manager for Image World.Jim also volunteered for numerous organizations, including Stars of Tomorrow, Silver Eagles, UWL Alumni Association, La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, the La Crosse Plugs and the ISOP Investment Club. While having an active social life, Jim enjoyed dinner parties with friends, being the favorite uncle to numerous adopted families and will be missed by all his friends from The New Villa, Schmidty's, Bluffside and Digger's. Jim enjoyed playing cards with theManistique Pinochle Club, watching the Brewers, driving his Datsun 280Z, attending events at Viterbo and the LaCrosse Community Theatreas well as traveling to Las Vegas many times. Jimwill alwaysbe rememberedfor buying the first round! Thank you to the staff at Bethany St. Joseph and Dr. David Momont for the excellent attention and care.Avisitation isscheduled on Thursday, May 29th at Schumacher - KishFuneral Home: 200 West Ave. South, from 4-6PM followed by amemorial service. A private burial will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, Jim requested memorial donations to: The UWL Foundation/College of Business Adminstrationor The Franciscan Circle at Viterbo University for the Fine Arts Program.