My Grandpa Jolley

Click Here for Grandpa Jolley's Slideshow

My Grandpa Jolley passed away on February 21st at the age of 92.  I made a slide show of his life for his funeral.  It is not a perfect slide show.....but it was made with lots of love.
 Click on the link above and it will take you to You Tube video.  When you are watching the video keep in mind my grandpa's name is Ron, my dad's name is Mike, and my grandma's name is Beulah.

I also wrote the following to be put in a memory book.

Memories of Grandma and Grandpa Jolley

I had the privilege of living next to my grandparents for 29 years of my life.  I have so many wonderful memories and will attempt to convey some of them the best I can.

When we lived in Arlington grandma & grandpa would watch me every Wednesday night while my parents were at church/mutual.  Grandpa taught me how to eat ice cream and let me sit on his lap for hours.  His whole life he would remind me of the indentations on his legs from my bony bum – he said that showed true love.  My dad was the Bishop when we lived in Arlington.  My mom & grandpa loved to tell me how it took both of them to keep my under control during sacrament meeting while my dad was on the stand.

When we lived on Diamond Ranch (and hour west of Tucson) I remember when grandma would come out of her house in Tucson to feed the cats.  Oh my, there would be 30 cats jumping out of the trees to get to the food – it was so amazing.  I got my love of cats from my grandma.  I loved cats so much that I remember eating the cat food at grandma’s house.  Grandma was a very neat and organized woman and a great cook.  She taught me how to make a bed with hospital corners and made the best homemade noodles in the world.  I also would tell my mom that grandma’s cole slaw was better than hers (even though it was the same recipe as my mom).  I remember rounding up the cattle and helping my dad and grandpa with the branding.  They would let me use the shocker to lead the cattle along.

Grandpa was such a fun loving man who always had a twinkle in his eye.  I will never forget going to the circus with him.  We always had a blast and he would buy us all the treats my parents were too cheap to buy.  The big cotton candy and balloons were my favorite.  I always thought grandpa was so rich because he was always slipping me a $20.  He also had a way of doing it that made you think he was only doing it for you and you were his favorite.  Family holiday gatherings always included grandpa squirting whip cream up our arms and teaching how to put olives on our fingers….oh how we laughed. 

Grandpa also was a rough and tough cowboy with the biggest heart.  He was so easy to get him to cry.  I remember going to church when I was 13 and my grandpa was there.  Church started and he was bawling.  A few minutes later I found out it was because my dad was about to be called to be Bishop again.  By that time we were all crying…we had inherited the “Jolley Crying Gene”.  If grandpa started crying I would too.  He loved my dad so much.  They were best friends.   I remember my grandpa trying to give prayers after my dad passed away and he couldn’t do it.  He would start bawling and someone would have to finish the prayer for him.

I remember watching grandma putting her tinsel one strand at a time on her Christmas tree.  There was never a Halloween without going to grandmas and getting a popcorn ball.  Grandma never liked to reveal her true age….she was 29 for a really LONG time.  One time when I was in elementary school my mom pulled grandma aside and told her she might want to tell me how old she really is because I was telling everyone at school that she was 99.  I also remember her telling me she was 29 and me responding, “How can you be younger than my dad?” I always thought grandma looked so skinny and put together.  I would tell her all the time how skinny she was and oh boy did that get a smile out of her and then she would usually disagree with me.   I remember when anyone would tell her that they loved her she would say, “Ditto”.  I also loved doing puzzles with grandma and I still do a puzzle every Thanksgiving and Christmas in her honor.  Grandma loved cards and taught me how to play Solitaire.  I also remember one of our family reunion camp outs when we played a HUGE game of Nertz and how good and quick grandma was at the game.  I also remember her being upset with Clint and Scott – the big cheaters.  When I was a teenager I went to the some concerts with grandma at the State Fair.  One time we saw George Strait….grandma LOVED him and thought he was so handsome.  She loved her country music.  I also love going to Piccadilly Cafeteria with grandma & grandpa and I would usually get turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, Jell-O, and a dessert.  Grandma will always be known as the grammar police.  She never let us get away with making silly grammatical mistakes.

Of course no one can forget this classic grandma & grandpa story.  Grandpa after saying some "colorful" words in his story telling grandma would exclaim, "RONALD"!!  Grandpa would reply, "It's OK, I'm just quoting,"
Grandma would snap back, "but, you’re quoting yourself." Another classic grandpa moment was anytime there was a long prayer grandpa would say, “He sure passed up a lot of good amens.”

After I graduated from BYU I moved back to Arizona and worked at JY Trading for a few years.   I can’t describe how grateful I am that I got to work with my dad and grandpa every day and get to know them on an adult level.  Grandpa would come to work almost every day with his Whataburger breakfast.    Grandpa LOVED to drive.  He was always the first to volunteer to go meet with a vendor or customer.  I remember getting into his car and grabbing some Aqua Fresh liquid center gum on our way out to lunch.  Grandpa was a “human calculator”.  You could give him two big numbers to multiple and he would give you the answer before you could even punch it in the calculator.  It was so fun to test him on that.  The best part about working with my grandpa was all the stories.  Grandpa was the absolute BEST story teller – EVER!  Now that I was an adult I would get the “full” and “colorful” version of all his favorite stories.  One of my favorite stories he would tell was when they were considering buying a casino from some mobsters in Las Vegas.  He told the owner that they were not going to buy the casino because it would not be a good thing for his family.  But, the mob guy liked grandpa so much though that he “offered” to “take care” of any enemies for him.

Grandpa was such a tough and strong man.  One time a man came into the office and asked if someone could help him load some dog food bags into his truck.  Grandpa was the first to volunteer and went outside and loaded them all for the “old man”.  As they were talking the man commented that he was in his 50’s and just didn’t have the strength to lift the bags.  The man asked grandpa how old he was and grandpa then commented, “Oh hell, I am 76.”  There was also a time at one of the bakeries where there was this drunk guy messing with one of the roll-offs and causing problems.  I remember Ernie coming back and telling us how grandpa “took care of that guy”.  Let’s just say it got a little physical and grandpa was the winner.

One day at work grandpa pulled me aside and started crying and told me I was one of his best friends and how he loved working with me.  I will NEVER forget that moment.  Grandpa always knew how to make you feel special.

When I worked at JY Trading I also became aware of grandma’s bookkeeping skills.  I was in the process of converting the business books to the computer and spent a lot of time going through grandma’s old books of the business.  She has the neatest handwriting and was so meticulous. The books were a work of art – no joke – so beautiful.  I would call and ask her questions all the time.  My dad also told me that she would often argue with the bank over a one penny mistake until they fixed it.  She was always right and didn’t make mistakes. 

When I was 20 years old I became a vegetarian and a democrat.  I knew this was not going to be a popular choice in my cattle ranching, conservative family.  When grandpa found out we were eating Thanksgiving dinner at their house in Tempe.  He said, “Oh hell Gina.  You are the first vegetarian and democrat in the history of the Jolley family.  Good thing I still love you in spite of that.”  Grandpa was laughing about it, but oh man grandma was mad and glared at me J.  After this anytime we had a family meal with grandpa he would show me his plate LOADED with meat and would tell me with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye he was eating my share and that I needed to eat his share of vegetables.

My grandpa was a fighter.  I taught me the value of hard work. He felt that only hard working people were of any value. My husband Corey worked for JY Trading for a while driving a roll-off truck.  One day my grandpa pulled me aside and basically said, “Gina I thought you married a lazy guy, but I was wrong.  He is such a hard worker and I love him.  You did good.” 

When my father was in the hospital dying from cancer the whole extended family and friends gathered and rallied around.  My dad had slipped into a coma and had been in a lot of pain.   There was no more fighting to do.  My dad was given a blessing a release by our stake president. None of wanted him to die, but we all knew it was time, except grandpa.   Grandpa was so ANGRY….I have never seen him so upset!!!  He told off our stake president up and down with an assortment of colorful words about how his son was not a quitter.  How he needed to keep fighting.  Some might think this is a horrible memory, but it will always be a reminder to me of two things.  One, my grandpa was so full of amazing love for his family.  He loved my dad so much he could not bear for him to go. Secondly, he also really believed in never quitting and fighting the good fight – to never accept defeat.

I love grandma and grandpa Jolley so much and will miss them every day until we reunited once again.  I feel so blessed that they were such a big and powerful influence in my life.  I would not be the person I am today without their unconditional love, helpful advice, and wonderful memories they gave me.  I will also never be able to thank them enough for raising such a wonderful man that I got to call my dad.  My grandparents and parents are my heroes and I love them with all my heart and soul.