Jason‘s obituary
Written by Mary Fricchione
Jason, Patrick Baldwin known to most as Jason Hawk, passed away on January 28 2025 in his home surrounded by family and friends.
Jason was loved and admired by all who met him. People around the world were spellbound by his talent, artwork, and story telling superpower.
Jason was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas to Andrea, an artist and equine therapist and Jim Baldwin, an army special forces instructor, turned carpenter and artist. Jim adopted the last name Hawk in honor of his years or sky diving. Jason, in later years adopted the name. Both of his parents were renowned for their gift of gab, so they say Jason came by his story telling skills, honestly.
When Jason was young and living in California and Nevada with his older brother Damon and his little sister Jordan, he developed a lifelong love for riding horses, especially out in the desert and mountains. He grew up in a creative household where he learned early on to work with many materials in his creative endeavors. Jason would spend countless hours looking over his dad‘s shoulder as he carved and created gorgeous, historic and native inspired artwork. Jim also introduced Jason to improvise weapons, survival and all manners of making do that he learned in life and in the service.
When Jason was eight, his older brother and best friend, Damon tragically lost his life to an accident on the beach.
The family was devastated.
A few years later the family
moved Cuchera, Colorado with Jason and his little sister Jordan, where they were caretakers on a large guest ranch called the Yellow Pine. Living in the Rocky Mountains was a dream come true for a young man who only dreamed of the freedom of saddling up a horse and making solo camping trips out into the mountains.
There he was able to practice his mountain men skills of hunting and trapping and camp craft. At 15 Jason and his sister Jordan became licensed wranglers and and helped pack in elk hunters inti the back country.
Jason would all often stay and cook and help tend camp before returning home. In the tiny town of Cuchara Jason was lucky to find a crew of friends that shared his love for history of the American frontier, hunting and trapping. They would spend long winter evenings sewing clothes and making gear for the reenactment and rendezvous they participated in.
After high school Jason left home and traveled the country for a couple of years until he landed in Montana. He lived remotely in the Bob martial wilderness and would come into town where Jason worked as a manager and chef at Dos amigos in Kalispell and then a supervisor and chef at Santa Fe Reds in Bozeman. While in Montana he went to school for welding and met his first wife, Erin Meeks. They were married for a couple years and then Jason returned to Arizona.
Jason moved to Rimrock, AZ with his dad. They shared an artistic studio where he began his knife making hobby on the side while working in a bronze foundry. Jason then met his second wife Ikuko Watanabe a Japanese student studying at NAU. They got married and had a son named Kamui in 2005.
Over the course of many years living off and on in Sedona, Jason earned his fifth-degree black belt in Dose Pares Eskrima under his friend, grandmaster Christopher Petrelli.
Jason met Mary fricchione, his final wife around a campfire after teaching at Winter count. In 2008 Jason‘s first daughter, River was born. When River was two the family moved down to arivaca Az to Mary’s family land, where they set up a carving shop for Jim and a knife making shop for Jason.
In 2012 Jason took a trip to Idaho to teach at Woodsmoke, a classic camping and primitive skills gathering. There he interviewed with Warmsprings production company for the show Mountain Men on History channel. They loved him and came down to Arizona to film for a season of him hunting and trapping and gallivanting around the desert. Unfortunately the desert landscape lacked the snow of the other locations, so that season never aired.
History channel still wanted Jason to film, so they built a show called No Man’s Land that aired in 2014 around him and a handful of other characters in remote desert locations living close to the land. That show only aired for one season. History channel still wanted him to work with Jason so, they invited him back on Mountain Men season 5. They offered to move the family anywhere in the US. He chose Arkansas because of family ties and the ability to hunt and fish and gather a year round. Jim decided to stayed in Arizona.
Jason and his family filmed season five near the White River outside of Elkins AR. They stayed for the winter on a 600 acre property with an 1800s off grid cabin with a hand well. When spring came and the lease was up, the family returned to AZ. That summer Jason’s dad passed away from a heart attack.
By the next fall, the leased property was no longer available, so Jason and his family went on the hunt for a property to buy. With the help of family and friends Jason was able to buy his current 10 acre homestead in the mountains north of the Arkansas River and Mulberry, AR. After living there for a year or so Jason’s youngest daughter Maddie was born in 2017 on an episode of the show.
In 2018 Jason’s son Kamui came to live with him. Jason continued to film until 2019 when he found out he had cancer. This ended his filming career. The extra time allowed him to focus on his health and his artwork, which he continued until he physically couldn’t anymore. Toward the end of his life, having a good day was getting over to work in the shop on his knives. He loved making cool shit.
He was a patient man who would spend long hours counseling anyone in need. You could see his patience in everything he did. He loved fishing, hunting, archery, tracking, sewing gear, history, cooking delicious food, learning new skills, and spending time with his friends and family.
In the end, he did the best he could with what he had to work with each day and encouraged everyone to live fully and become a legend.
He leaves behind his wife Mary, son Kamui, daughters River and Maddie, mother Andrea Baldwin, aunt Marilyn Davis, uncle John Baldwin, his sisters Jordan Baldwin, Jill Lott, Jymme Jo Gann, Julie Waller Driskel and numerous nieces and nephews, and too many friends and loved ones to name. He was dearly loved and will be missed.
This brief summary of Jason Hawk’s life, is a woefully inadequate account. For there are stories held in memory and validated by people who are still walking this earth. However, so many of the people that made his stories real, are no longer with us. When unbelievable stories can no longer be verified, they become the stuff of legends.
His memorial will be held in May on the family homestead with his close friends and family.
Please contact Jason’s wife, Mary Fricchione for details.