On August 13, 2009, Jim Grafmyer passed due to complications related to diabetes. He was buried by the church he was baptized in, Holy Family, in Denver, Colorado. Trumpet was very present in his life. Grafmyer worked as a trumpeter from the time he joined the Navy in 1955. He married trumpeter Nancy Corbetta, who he met after hearing her combo play at Denver VFW, in 1956. Over the years, he had several bassett hounds as pets, all named Satchmo.

Grafmyer began his music career on french horn in Denver's Junior Police Band, but he switched to trumpet after hearing Harry James in 1945. Grafmyer served twenty-five years in the Navy at various duty stations, notably as an instructor at the Navy School of Music and his final station, the Naval Academy Band in Annapolis. After leaving the Navy, he and wife Nancy regularly performed together in Denver and ran a bugling service to provide military honors for veterans. Grafmyer published a book on trumpet methods and taught many trumpet students. In addition to learning music, his students benefited from his ever-positive philosophy of life: "Big breath. Chest up. Pound the valves. Never quit."