James "Jim" Boudreau

James "Jim" Boudreau, 76, of Viera, Florida, died on September 16, 2026, at Cape Canaveral Hospital, surrounded by his family, after a battle with cancer.

Jim was born August 26, 1950, in Plymouth, Indiana, to James D. Boudreau and Helen Stockinger Boudreau. He grew up there, attending St. Michael's Elementary School and Lincoln Middle School before graduating from Plymouth High School in 1968. His father died when Jim was fifteen. After high school, he attended Findlay College, where he majored in political science.

Music found him early and never let go. Still in high school, Jim played in The Saharas, whose original members included his classmates and lifelong friends Larry Truman, Danny Williams, Kurt Kralovansky, and Steve Robertson. In the summer of 1966, when the boys were sixteen, the band boarded a white bus for the "Spirit of '66" tour and played a different Indiana town every night for ninety straight nights, mostly county fairs, with radio interviews filling the days and crowds that ran from a few hundred people to nearly ten thousand. They opened for Richard Nixon along the way. In the years after, they played Indiana Beach, Tippy Gardens, and the Stepan Center, and opened for the Spencer Davis Group, the Buckinghams, and the Ides of March. The Saharas left behind one 45, with "Spirit of '66" on one side and "Because of Him" on the other. Jim told that story for the rest of his life, and all of it was true.

Professionally, Jim built a successful career in sales, leading the national sales division for Carriage, Inc., a prominent northern Indiana manufacturer of recreational vehicles distributed throughout the country.

On May 28, 1983, Jim married Candace "Candy" Korfhage in Rockledge, Florida. They were married 43 years, celebrating their anniversary this past May.

He is survived by Candy; his brother, Tom Boudreau (spouse Deborah); his sister, Marlene Reitz (spouse Raymond); his sons, Eric Krupp (spouse Rachel) and Adam Krupp (spouse Natasha); and five grandchildren, Evan, Meredith, Coleman, Cassius, and Kingsley. He was preceded in death by his parents; by his sister Therese, in 1984; and by an older brother, Kenny, who died in childhood in 1943, before Jim was born.

Jim was cremated at his request. There will be no service. His remains will stay with his family until a later time.

What stayed constant across all of it, from a high school band in Plymouth to a house in Viera, was the music. Jim wrote songs for sixty years. He was still writing them, still singing, still picking up a guitar, in his last days. Many of those recordings live online on YouTube and on Facebook, and the family invites anyone who knew him to go listen. It is the truest record of who he was.

In lieu of flowers we ask that you please make a donation to Health First Hospice in Melbourne. These wonderful people took great care of Jim during his final days and were there for the family with kindness and guidance of what to do next after his passing. All donations can be mailed to their office at:

1131 West New Haven Ave, Suite: 102, West Melbourne, FL 32904