Promoted To Glory, Major Particia Jolley
Crestmont Remembers A Very Special Officer and Lady

Written by Susan Kendall

I remember as clear as if it were yesterday.  I drove my car up the hill to RPV to Crestmont because I was called in for a job interview after answering an ad in the Daily Breeze for a Webmaster position with The Salvation Army.


While filling out my preliminary paperwork in the Business Administration Department, a very tall lady officer was nearby in her office having a very intense phone conversation.  The lady officer wasn’t taking any nonsense from the person on the other end of the line, as I recall.  Now, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on her conversation, but at the same time I couldn’t help think… “...boy, I wouldn’t want to make her cross!”

After a while she emerged from her office and I could tell in an instant that she was kind, yet tough, fair but firm and very well respected.  It was Major Pat Jolley, of course, and when I got the job working at Crestmont, I knew I would love working with this very special woman.

Major Pat Jolley was born in Long Beach, CA.  Her parents were soldiers of the Long Beach Corps and that became the corps she grew up in.  She was active in all the usual programs offered to young people by The Salvation Army at that time.  Sunbeams, Girl Guards, Corps Cadets, YPL and kettles at Christmas.  She answered the call to officership at a YP Council in the late 1950’s.   She proceeded to go to training in September of 1962 at the age of 19 and was commissioned in June of 1964.  Major Jolley recently retired after 45 years of service as an officer.


One piece of trivia that many of you already knew about Major Jolley was that she loved pigs.  This was evident in the number of ornamental pigs she had in her office.  I can only imagine how many she had in her home.


Major Jolly was a very private person and she rarely shared personal news about herself to anyone except those who she was close to.   But one thing that she just couldn’t contain her joy about and share with everyone was the fact that she was finally going to buy her first home. About a year before she retired she purchased a beautiful brand new modular home.  She would light up like a Christmas tree when anyone would ask her how the house was coming.  She even brought in a photo album with pictures of her home being built and ultimately delivered to her future retirement place in Fountain Valley.


It saddens me when I think about how much she was looking forward to her retirement years but never had an opportunity to enjoy them to the fullest as she so rightly deserved.  She was a grand lady and a model Salvation Army Officer and she will be greatly missed.


Major Patricia Jolley was Promoted to Glory on September 10, 2009.  She was laid to rest on September 18, 2009 at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cypress, CA.

 
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