James Derrick Costa, 61, of Broadlands, VA, passed away suddenly and quickly and went to his eternal Home peacefully to be with Jesus on Tuesday, December 21, 2021.  He is survived by his high school sweetheart & wife Gwen of 35 years, his son Derrick And daughter Lauren.

He was known as Jimmy Boy (and at other times, Jimmy) since he was born.  He was preceded in death by his father, James Alan Costa of Honolulu, HI.  He is also survived by his mother, Virginia F. Costa of Honolulu, HI, his brothers John A. Costa of Palolo Valley, HI, and Steven Reno Costa of Maui, HI, his mother-in-law Felicidad J. Galindo of Wahiawa, HI, his brother-in-law Marly J. Galindo of Bremerton, WA, his sister-in-law June D. Galdeira of Wahiawa, HI, his sister-in-law Lynne Costa of Palolo Valley, HI and many loving nieces, nephews, aunties, uncles, and cousins who loved Jimmy so very much. He will be sorely missed by all.

Family was very important to Jimmy.  Everything he did was for them. Being high school sweethearts, Jimmy & Gwen knew each other for 44 years, and celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on May 10, 2021.  In his own loving way, he always put his family first by allowing Gwen to be a stay-at-home mom for almost 9 years, which allowed Gwen to stay home, volunteer in the community, church, & at their children's schools; and to also have the opportunity to work part-time when they were older so she can be home with the kids after school.  When they were little, he always took the time to take them to the park, to the arcade, movies, and other fun places they enjoyed during the weekends and on his days off.  He also felt so proud going to their school and church performances during the holidays and other times during the year.  When we visit family in HI, he loved taking the family to the beach, hike up Diamond Head, a fun short trip to Kona, HI and all his favorite eating places!  Our last big family outing was back in December 2017, when we went on a Cruise to the Bahamas.  It was a Christmas present to the family, and one we will never forget.  Now that our son and daughter have graduated from college and working in the corporate world, he loved to take Gwen to wineries, hiking, bike riding, concerts at The Barn at Wolf Trap when a local band from Hawaii comes to Vienna, VA.  They workout at their local gym on Saturdays doing deadlifts, TRX & other functional exercises they don't do at home on the weeknights.   He loved to take Gwen to try different restaurants in VA, MD &DC.  Family & friends will remember Jimmy by his unique sense of humor.  He loved to joke around and make people laugh.  Sometimes people can't distinguish if he is serious or not because he always held a straight face and not smile.  Once people got to know him, they really knew he was joking.

After graduating from high school at Moanaloa High School in 1978, Jimmy joined the U.S. Marine Corps because he wanted to get the education benefits to go to college.  Knowing how hard boot camp was going to be, he wanted the challenge.  After boot camp in San Diego, CA, he was able to be stationed back home in HI for the 4 years he served.  At the time, he was not into traveling to different places - his main goal was to go to college at the University of HI and graduate, which he did in 1984.  He was proud to be a Marine, and always was until his passing.

Jim, as he was known to his co-workers & colleagues, was last employed at Telos Corporation as a Business Analyst.  He was so happy when he started there, knowing his office is located close to home.  Prior to Telos, Jim has been a consultant as a Business Analyst for many years in different states (starting with CA, MO, VA, CO, then back to VA in 2009).  He loved the challenge of going to different companies and putting the talents and gifts that God blessed him with, taking on the projects and tasks he was hired to do.  He loved analyzing data.  He was a very hard worker, and always gave his best wherever he was employed.  Jim's calling and his heart's passion was to help co-workers and colleagues find another job/project when they were rolling off or being laid off from a project or job.  His famous words, "Send me your resume…", was a way of giving back, as others have helped him when he was in that same position.  He knew what they were going through and desired to help them find a job.  His network grew on LinkedIn.  He was very active in staying connected to fellow colleagues and other business associates in this group.  This is how he connected with people to find future projects/jobs or how others stayed connected to him when they needed his help to pass on their resumes to others.  He has a calendar on one of his email accounts that shows all the birthdays of the people on his network, and he would always send them a birthday greeting.  He sometimes would check in with colleagues to see how they were doing - seeing if they are employed, rolling off a project, or need help in their job search.  He cared so much that he never wanted people to be unemployed.

His favorite hobby was genealogy.  What drove him to work on his family tree was the stories of all the family he found through his research on ancestry.com.  There were many stories.  He connected with some of them on Facebook, and even met a few of them at a family event in FL.  He not only found family for his tree, but he even researched Gwen's tree - both maternal & paternal.  I can just see him now - excitedly meeting family members in Heaven.

We would like you to join Gwen and her family in a Celebration of Life Service to honor Jimmy at Cornerstone Chapel 650 Battlefield Pkwy, SE Leesburg, VA 20178, on Friday, January 14, 2022 from 10:30am - 11:30 am.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may also be made in the form desired by friends in lieu of flowers; or assist in supporting the family's expenses due to one's end of life by contributing to their GoFundMe Fundraiser by Gwen Costa : Assistances for James Costa's unexpected death (gofundme.com)