James Anthony Flanagan

James Anthony “Jim” Flanagan, a nurse and a resident of Milliken, died Sunday, Aug. 16, after a sudden illness.

He was 66 and had been a resident of Weld County since 2018.

Jim Flanagan was born Jan. 23, 1960, in Orlando, Fla., the first child of Richard and Caroline Flanagan. After living his early years in Florida, he grew up in Colorado, spending most of his childhood in Northglenn.

He was a 1978 graduate of Northglenn High School. He earned an associates degree in nursing in 1982 from Front Range Community College and became a licensed practical nurse, working first in Colorado and later in Nebraska. 

In 1992, he graduated from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and became a registered nurse.

He worked for many years in nursing and care homes in both Colorado and Nebraska.

The disco dancing craze bit him in the late 1970s, and he loved slipping into a leisure suit and hitting the dance floor. One of his favorite haunts was the Disconnection in Thornton. He was fascinated at an early age by flying and space travel, and he read extensively on those subjects. Along the way he began what would be a lifelong hobby as a builder of scale models of airplanes, rockets, and spaceships.

He married Sherri Wudtke on July 14, 1984, in Northglenn. They later moved to Stratton, Neb., before settling in Kearney, where they raised their two children.

He was preceded in death by his former wife, Sherri (Wudtke) Flanagan, and his mother, Caroline Flanagan.

Survivors include his two children, Chelsie Bebensee and her husband, Casey, of Kearney, Neb., and Chad Flanagan and his wife, Emmylou, of Lincoln, Neb.; five grandchildren, Olivia and Quinn Bebensee and Eliott, Kinsely, and Brinley Flanagan; his father, Richard J. Flanagan of Milliken; five siblings, Richard Flanagan and his wife, Kerrie, of Fort Collins, Bob Flanagan and his wife, Bobbi, of Parker, Colleen Vaughan and her husband, Kevin, of Thornton, Cindy Hultgren and her husband, Barry, of Windsor, and Ken Flanagan and his wife, Jen, of Loveland; and numerous aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews.

His family is holding a private graveside service. Interment will be at Johnstown Cemetery.

One of Jim’s last acts was to designate himself as an organ donor. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions in his memory to Donor Alliance at https://www.donoralliance.org/contribute/