James O. Selland
Nov. 11, 1945-Mar. 12, 2022
CHANDLER – James
Selland, age 76, passed
away March 12, 2022 at
home. Jim was born No-
vember 11, 1945 in Rug-
by, ND to Ole and Gladys
Selland, the youngest of 8
siblings. Ole was the son
of Norwegian immigrants
and Jim was proud of his
Norwegian heritage. He
graduated from Rugby
High School in 1963 and
was accepted into the
ROTC program at North
Dakota State University.
He graduated in 1967
with a degree in Electrical
Engineering.
After college Jim en-
tered the Air Force as a
Second Lieutenant and
was assigned to Hanscom
Air Force Base in
Massachusetts where he
performed weather
research by flying into
hurricanes. When he
completed his active duty
he worked as a civilian for
the Air Force, which in-
cluded five years sta-
tioned in Germany. He
returned to the United
States in 1979 and worked
at Andrews Air Force
Base in Clinton, MD. In
September 1981 Jim was
accepted into the National
War College as a represen-
tative from the Depart-
ment of Defense and was
later transferred to the
Pentagon.
Ultimately, he was re-
cruited to work for IBM in
their Federal Systems
Division in Rosslyn, Vir-
ginia and enjoyed working
on numerous projects for
the Federal government,
including installing a
video conferencing sys-
tem in the White House.
In August of 1989 IBM
moved Jim and his family
to Brussels, Belgium to
work on the External Pro-
grams Europe team, coor-
dinating marketing to the
countries in the European
Union.
In August of 1993 he
took a leave of absence
from IBM to work with
The Navigators, an inter-
national interdenomina-
tional Christian ministry
in Colorado Springs, CO.
In October of 1997 he re-
turned to IBM in Boulder,
Colorado. In July of 2004,
he and his wife, Debbie,
were drawn to relocate to
Chandler, AZ to be near
their children and their
grandchildren.
Jim loved traveling, ski-
ing, sailing, hunting and
fishing. He was a very
committed churchman
and an active leader in
church mission projects
and Habitat for Humanity.
Jim is survived by his
wife Debbie (of 40 years),
daughter Nicole (German)
Ospina and grandchildren
Elliston and Anika, son
Jonathan, stepson Nate
(Christine) Vaughn and
grandchildren Alexandra
and Nicholas, son Joshua
and grandchildren Jeremi-
ah and Ethan, and brother
Robert Selland and sister
Mary Ann Loiselle.
A memorial service will
be held on Saturday,
April 9th, at 3:00 pm at
Hope Covenant Church in
Chandler (Live stream on
Facebook.com/hopecov/,
and the burial will be in
Rugby, North Dakota this
summer. In Lieu of
flowers donations can be
made either to Hope
Covenant Church 1770 S.
Dobson Rd., Chandler,
AZ; website: www.
hopechurch chandler, OR
to Naomi House, a foster
home for Native American
Children, P. O. Box 205,
Joseph City, AZ 86032
website: https://
thenaomihouse.org.