God called a very dear friend to come home to be with Him.  We were very reluctant to let him go, but when God calls we must go.  Where Jolly went there is no more tears, sorrow, pain or death.  Can't you just see Jolly walking those golden streets, and what a joy to be able to talk to mom and dad.  What a rejoycing moment that would be to see and be with all the friends and realtives that have gone on before.  I am just talking about home, what a wonderful place this must be.  Jolly and our family have had some wonderful times.  He was just like a brother to me; I love and miss him so much.  He will be missed by so many.  Life is so precious and each day is a gift, so enjoy every minute as if it were your last.  Nothing is forever in this life, life goes so fast so cherish your loved ones; hug them tight, love them with all your heart.  

We love you Jolly and miss you,
Bob and Alice Shay 

Jolly Roger Burchett

How do you start talking about a man like Jolly? He was my brother, my friend, and my buddy. I’m proud to say, that only by the grace of God that Jolly was 1 of 12 of the closest knitted family in the country. By blood we were brought together, by choice this family became friends to stay together. Jolly loved the chance to be with family, if any thing was planned he was the first to want to know what time and place. With a 6 to 7 hour drive, he would always check in and tell me he was leaving and see you tonight and leave the door unlocked. I was so thankful for the past 20 years, 4 to 5 times a year; he called our house his home away from home.

I will never understand how our bonds got so close with me being the youngest and him being the oldest of 7 boys. (But he did love Sandy’s cooken). But our friendship was much more than friends, he was my buddy. We wanted to talk every week 1 to 3 times. We could and did dump everything on each other. Oh how I miss him now! We will never know how great heaven is in this life, but my prayer is that Mom, Dad, and now Jolly are together and looking down on us and saying, “Be thankful that this is your loss for a short time, but our gain for eternity. We will see you later”.

For now I will always love you and miss you, my brother, my friend, my buddy. Doug 

Such a soft gentle soul. I will never forget his frequent visits. He was always smiling, laughing, sharing stories and solving problems with us. I will forever cherish the times we spent together. He was more than just an uncle to me, he was my friend. I love you Uncle Jolly, Rest in Peace.  

oh! What a brother he was.  He really enjoyed the family get togethers we had. He always reminded us to never pass up the chance to get together, we learned that even more while losing our parents, making it more important to each of us.  He had such a positive attitude and always had a few jokes to tell, I often wondered where he got them.  He set a good example for us to follow, I hope I didn't disappoint him.  I loved him so much, I will miss him so much. The family has lost it's first sibling, We have been so Wonderfully, wonderful.ly blessed to have had all this time to be together.  I'm sure he is in the arms of Jesus, and I'm sure Mom and Dad greeted him too.  I envy him that.  Bye-bye Brother, ...Untill we meet again up there.  I love you, Bertie

When the family would get together, of course everyone had to brag about their kids.  He told that Kevin had said there were 15 (example) cows in that field.  Jolly asked him if he had counted them and Kevin replied that no, he had counted the legs and divided by four!!  Got us, once again!!

One day I picked him up from chemo and asked him if he needed anything from the store.  He rattled off the things he needed and I told him that I would drop him off at home and then go to the store for him.  He said that he wanted to go with me!  He said that he saw those "electric carts" at Kroger and that he wanted to use one to go shopping.  OK, so I guess that is what we were going to do.  Well, I got him that cart and he proceeded to take off in Kroger to fetch the items he needed.  I lost him twice in the store and he ran into three people with his scooter.  I could not stop laughing about it at the time.  I think he felt a little sense of freedom and control with that scooter....

and that hat!!  Who could forget the famous Russian hat that he always wore.  He loved that hat.

We all know how much Jolly treasured education and he was at my high school graduation and my college graduation.  Even more important to me was how he helped me obtain my college degree.  I was enrolled in the Dental Hygiene Program at Lansing Community College about two hours from where Jolly lived.  We were required to find our own patients to work on and over the two years in the program I had to see a lot of people.  I asked Jolly if he would be willing to come and let me clean his teeth.  Of course, he said, "yes".  When one is learning how to clean teeth, an hour is not enough time, so Jolly made the trip twice.  Each appointment was four hours long.  He made me feel so good, by saying, "he had never had his teeth cleaned so good. I guess for eight hours they should have been sparkling clean!!!  I don't think he really ever knew how much that meant to me, but it meant the world. I love my uncle Jolly and will miss him.  He was always at the Shay house for Thanksgiving dinner and for Christmas Eve.  It will not be the same without him, we will miss you.  

Recently, I spent some time at Jolly's to "help out" and as a means to show my love.  During that time, Jolly got results from his most recent CAT scan which showed that his large mass on his lung was gone!  The report stated that "apparently, it had been surgically removed"!  Of course, we all knew that only God had "surgically" removed this mass.  We were absolutely beside ourselves with joy and gratitude!  He wanted to share his news with everyone so I dialed the numbers and handed him the phone.  Repeatedly, he told each that he wanted to find the highest mountain to shout this news from!!!  So exciting.  So honored that I was there to share that wonderful day with him.  

Another special day was when I graduated with my Masters degree - Dec. 2007.  No one really wants to sit through a graduation ceremony and I didn't expect anyone but my very immediate family to be there.  But as I was sitting on the very front row of graduates, I looked up and almost straight in front of me, on the hard, backless bleachers, was Jolly - just beaming with pride!  Being an educator himself, he truly valued that I had worked and obtained this goal.  I so appreciated him being there but was so aware of how that hard, backless bleacher was surely killling his back.  Thank you Jolly for showing me I was worth that to you.  I hope you knew how much that meant to me. I will forever love you, miss you, and treasure that you were my Brother.

1978, Olive Hill, Kentucky. I was 20 years old, already wondering in which direction to go after having made some big moves in my life. I was walking out the back door while Jolly was walking in. He greeted me, shakng my hand as if I were an adult, looking straight into my face. I knew he saw my need @ the moment, he turned and walked after me onto the gravel parking. "Where you headed now?", he asked. "Just going for a drive", I said opening the door to my Dodge van. He just pulled open the passenger door and climbed in, "Quess I will too". We didn't talk about anything specific, but he rode with me through town, out to 'Smokey' and back. He commented on the 'split shift' I built since my 'column shift' was broken...and just laughed when I called it 'my W.P.' shifter.
I thought about this @ the time, wondering why a man I held in high esteem would have spent a half hour of his time with me...in a low point of my life... he didn't have a lot of time available when he came to Kentucky...and who was I to have gotten a few moment of his time...And with age, I know....this is a little thing 'family' does....but it sure does last a life time.