Jim was born 26 February 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Thomas William Wolslager and Mildred Chanesky. He was raised Catholic and the oldest of 2 brothers Jerry and Tom, and a sister Barbara. As a young boy, he would often wake up in the early hours of morning to take multiple buses to get to Lake Michigan, where he would fish in a favorite spot from dawn to dusk. He went to Marquette University in Milwaukee. His first marriage was to Janine Kaminski. They had a son Joseph (Joe), were divorced some years into their marriage. Around 1978 Jim was living in Freeport, Illinois, and was a regular at the local Bowling Alley. There he met Pamela Shores Fluegel, who was working there to support her three children, Tracey, Robbie, and Trisha Fluegel. They fell in love and were married on 10 March 1979 in Bishop Ensign's home. 

Jim was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through Pamela and was baptized on 16 February 1979 before their marriage. Pam's son Robbie was about 9 years old and one day as Jim was walking up the steps to Pam's house, Robbie was sitting on the steps and asked, "Are you going to marry my mom?" He said, "I hope to, yes" and Robbie asked, "Are you going to get baptized?" "Yes" "Then you can marry her." Robbie had been, after all, the man of the house for many years and needed to give his permission before anyone married his dear mother. 

Pamela and Jim were soulmates. They knew how to have fun together. They would call each other on their car-radio phones and even had funny radio names; Jim was One-Mr.-Fun and Pam was FoxyLady. They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. They had one son together, James Cannon Wolslager after they were married and they were all sealed together in Salt Lake. 

Jim and his family moved from Freeport to Rockford, and spent many years there. They attended the Rockford Second Ward at the LDS chapel on Alpine Rd. He worked in Insurance and they sometimes went on vacations to Disney World in Florida. Jim would make trips with his sons and the young men of the Ward to Canada to go fishing. 

Jim and Pam moved to Belvidere, IL when Jimmy was in high school. They lived on Fremont St. They moved later to a home they designed and built, 110 Partridge Court, Poplar Grove, IL, a community north of Belvidere around 2000. They lived happily there, enjoying their grandchildren who lived nearby and serving in the Belvidere Branch and as temple workers at the Chicago Temple. 

Jim was a generous man who would give even when he had little to give. He had compassion and mercy for others. Very traditional, he made sure his sons didn't mow the lawn with their shirts off and believed his little grandaughters shouldn't get their ears pierced until they were older teenagers. He was the selfless patriarch of the family for many years, and Pam would always call on him to say the prayer over the food for big family gatherings. 

He and Pam were in a car accident October 1st, 2007 where they were they were taken to the hospital because his heart rate was too high. They discovered he had cancer in his kidneys that was very advanced. Though he had chemo treatments, two years later he passed on January 5th, 2010, his step-son Robert's birthday. Along with Hospice care, Pamela was his constant personal nurse and took care of him until the moment he passed.