William Donald (Don) Jolly

William Donald (Don) Jolly, 88, passed away at his home in Bryan on Friday June 11, 2021. Don was born in Havenlock North Carolina to Frank and Genevieve Jolly on September 18, 1932. He completed an apprentice school in electronics, and then served in the U. S. Air Force. He was deployed to Japan during the Korean War. After his military service he moved to Seattle to work for Boeing Aerospace. While living in Seattle he met and married Charlotte Jean Ticknor in 1956. Don worked as a researcher in the field of Nondestructive Testing for Battelle Labs in Richland Washington and then Southwest Research in San Antonio Texas. After 25 years at Southwest Research he retired having reached the rank of Institute Scientist.

From a young age he enjoyed the outdoors – fishing, camping, boating and gardening. Throughout his life he was very inquisitive and loved inventing and repairing gadgets of all kinds from repairing radios in the Air Force to creating tools and methods used to test the safety of nuclear power plants. He received several patents and worked on techniques for cameras used to take the earliest in-flight moon photographs.

Don greatly loved his family, friends and dogs. In 2011 Don and Charlotte moved to Bryan to be nearer to family. He enjoyed walking his dog and talking with neighbors in his Bryan neighborhood.

Don is preceded in death by his parents, his son Kevin Jolly of Austin, and his son-in-law Gary Manthei of Bryan.

Survivors include his loving wife of 65 years Charlotte Jolly and his daughter Carol Manthei both of Bryan, his daughter-in-law Karen Jolly of Austin, his sister Anne Sabiston of Beaufort North Carolina, Grand-children Don Jolly of Austin, Jenny Manthei of Houston, Thomas Manthei and Daniel Manthei of Bryan.
A memorial service will be held Saturday June 19th at 2pm with visitation just prior at 1:30. The service will be at Calloway Jones Funeral Home in Bryan.