On the evening of March 31, 2023, Loring Hugh "Jim" Vance, Jr., age 90, while surrounded by family, was called by his loving Savior to come to his heavenly home.  He was a resident at the E.A. Hawse Nursing Center where he had been the past 8 months.

Jim was born in Fisher, WV to the late Mary Weese and Loring Hugh Vance, Sr. on July 18, 1932.  Soon thereafter the family moved to Moorefield and Jim attended Moorefield Elementary School.  During these years a small group of the local boys played together and named themselves "The Cat Alley Gang".  With ingenuity they often devised games using such items as soda pop bottle caps.  They also daringly jumped off bridges into the rivers.  Each gang member was given a nickname and Loring's was "Jim", and it stuck with him his whole life.

Jim graduated from Moorefield High School in 1951.  His greatest enthusiasm was basketball.  He walked to school for early morning practices before the bell rang for class.  He was a member of the 1949 Moorefield High School team that won the WV State Tournament; the only Moorefield team to achieve this honor.

In his junior year he was chosen to attend Boy's State, a week of learning about WV government with the climax of electing candidates for local and state offices.  At graduation he received the Good Citizen Award.

In the fall of 1951 he entered Berea College in Berea, KY.  He worked his way through college earning a B.S. degree in history and political science.  He was the sports editor of the college newspaper.  Jim loved basketball.  Sometimes he hitch hiked to Lexington to watch Adolph Rupp's basketball team play.    Several times he and fellow Berea classmate Bob Hulver hitch hiked the 500 miles to come home.

Jim's first teaching job was at Ketterman, a one room school up a holler near Moorefield.  He taught grades one through eight.  He was his own janitor and at times he and the students even cooked lunch.  He had very fond memories of his experiences at Ketterman.

In 1956-57 Jim was hired as a history and physical education teacher at Mathias High School.  He coached an upset defeat of Moorefield HS, game score 72-55.  The 1957-58 team won the Sectional Tournament.  Considering a vocation in ministry, he resigned teaching; but later a change of mind found him again teaching in elementary school and assisting Coach George Hott in football 1960-63.  In 1966 he returned to Mathias HS where he coached baseball for a total of 13 years and basketball for 19 years.  In the same year he started the first Junior High Team.  Most of those years he had no assistant coach, but Annabelle stood by his side and helped in many ways.

In 1969 he was honored as the PVC Basketball Coach of the Year; and that year his team finished with a 21-2 record.  In 1973 he earned his Master of Arts Degree from WVU.

Jim taught 8th grade WV history for 15 years and had 20 winners of the WV Golden Horse Shoe award.  Each winner went to Charleston and was dubbed a Knight or Lady of the WV Golden Horse Shoe.  Jim was also awarded an Honorary WV Golden Horse Shoe.  He was very proud of his student winners.  In addition to Jim's many accomplishments in the education world, he was a prolific writer and recorded many histories of his experiences and those of the community.

Jim was a member of the Mathias Brethren Church for many years where he taught Sunday school, was a deacon, and helped with many church activities such as apple butter boiling and Christmas pageants.  He was currently a member of Bethlehem Brethren Church in Harrisonburg.

On June 23, 1962 he married Annabelle Fitzwater at the Mathias Brethren Church by Rev. George Solomon.  He is survived by his wife and they celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2022.  They loved to travel and were able to visit all but four of the continental United States as well as parts of Canada.  Both were avid WV football and basketball fans and they attended many, many games together.

He is also survived by sister-in-law's Janie Lester (Donnie) and Janet Vance; nephews Greg Vance, Jeff Vance (Maddie), Greg Michael (Sherry), Leonard Fitzwater (Ellen) and a niece Tammy Crites (Roger).

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Charlie Vance, a sister, Dorothy Michael (Gene) and a niece, Linda Kay Michael.

Pastor Jim Corbitt, Pastor Freddie Helsley and Pastor Kent Bennet will conduct a memorial service Thursday at 2:00 pm at the Mathias Ruritan School Gymnasium, 56 Ruritan Dr, Mathias, WV, with burial following in Cedar Hill Cemetery.  The family will receive friends at Grandle Funeral Home in Broadway on Wednesday evening from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.  Friends may stop by the funeral home from 9 AM - 4 PM Tuesday or Wednesday to sign the guestbook and view.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Mathias High School Hall of Honor, c/o Willard Barb, 18836 State Rd 259, Mathias, WV 26812.