‘Papa is in his happy place’: Rescue turns to recovery for retiree missing in mountains

The search and rescue efforts for a longtime Wichita dentist who went missing in Colorado on Sept. 3 while scouting for a hunting trip have now become a recovery mission, his family said in its latest update.

Dr. James “Jim” Shadid, who retired and sold his Wichita dental business in 2000 and then moved to Durango the next year, went missing while scouting for an upcoming hunt. He had been with his wife, Marilyn Shadid; she went back to the truck while he continued down the trail. He never returned.

Efforts to find the 79-year-old over the next several days included helicopters, drones, four-wheelers, people on horseback, tracking dogs and many volunteers on foot.

His family had been optimistic about his recovery, especially given his longtime experience hunting and being outdoors. Susan Jones, his former employee at his previous dental practice in east Wichita, said a few days into the search that: “If anyone could survive out there it would be Jim Shadid. He was an outdoorsman. He was doing that even when he worked.”

Jones said he is a “great, great guy.”

The family said in an update on findjimnow.com Monday that the effort is now a recovery mission.

“There have been very few clues as to his whereabouts and what happened remains a mystery,” daughter Jamie Shadid said on Facebook. “As tragic as this unexpected event is, there is something so beautiful thinking of our Papa resting in the mountains that he so dearly loved. A place where he has spent the last 20 years hiking, skiing, hunting and backpacking. Through our mourning, we know in our hearts that Papa is in his happy place, somewhere up there, his body returning to the Earth.”

Shadid was born and raised in Wichita. In 1962, he graduated from Southeast High School, where he met his high school sweetheart and wife.

He followed in the footsteps of his father, Ferris Shadid, who emigrated from Lebanon to Wichita in 1930s, in going to dental school and becoming a dentist. After school, he enlisted as a dentist in the Vietnam War and was sent to the demilitarized zone in Seoul.

After his service, Shadid and his growing family moved to Denver before coming back to Wichita to take over his father’s dental practice in east Wichita. Jim Shadid and his family spent the next few decades in Wichita.

But Shadid’s love for the outdoors continued as he went on outdoor adventures and hunting trips. He would take his son, Scott Shadid, with him on his adventures.

Marilyn Shadid said her husband had been hunting since his youth, when he would ride around with on his bicycle with a BB gun on the handlebars, shooting at small game like squirrels.

Those adventures continued after they moved to Durango in the early 2000s.

“Hunting and skiing, and fishing, and camping and hiking. We had done it all,” Marilyn Shadid said Sept. 7. “We love Colorado.”

Their children, Jamie, Kristi and Scott, followed them to Colorado.

Jamie Shadid’s post Monday about the rescue turning into a recovery included a few photos: one of him on a mountain “with his llamas some years ago” in addition to his truck that he “left parked and the trail he took into the woods.”

“It is a stunningly beautiful and peaceful area,” she wrote.

Jim Shadid had gone scouting in a new area, west of Purgatory Resort in southwest Colorado, on Sept. 3 ahead of the muzzle-loading elk season that opened the next weekend.

About 45 minutes after Marilyn Shadid went back to the truck, Jim Shadid radioed that he would return in 20 minutes. He didn’t take anything with him since he expected it to be just a short scouting trip.

“We think he got disoriented and never returned,” Jamie Shadid previously wrote on Facebook.

Hunters in the area jumped in to try and help. Area search and rescue teams also responded. In addition, experienced hikers also gave their time to help search.

“Words can not express our eternal gratitude for the hundreds of people who put every effort into searching for him and supporting our family this past week. We are deeply touched by the compassion, the empathy, the technical skills, the determination to do everything possible to find him,” Jamie Shadid wrote. “Papa loved bringing people to the mountains, and that he did this week!”

Family said he had volunteered to help in rescues in the past.

La Plata County Search and Rescue will continue to follow up, she wrote.

“There is one area that a technical crew will backpack into this weekend that is very rugged and deep in the wilderness where the few clues were found,” she wrote. “They will camp a couple of nights to thoroughly ‘sweep’ the area.”

A map will be uploaded on findjimnow.com that will allow people to see the areas that have been searched and note the areas they have checked.