Jimmy Ray Polly, Sr

Jim Polly left us on August 11 to join Jo Ann, his wife of 66 years. He was a classic Fifties guy— a hard worker, a builder, a repairer, and a knower of at least enough about almost everything. He served in the Navy as a radioman, and used his superior Morse Code skills as a ham radio operator for many years. He was a civil engineering technician for the Soil Conservation Service for over 20 years, building dams and terraces and improving waterways. He took on extra jobs to support his young family, even by pumping gas for $1 / hour. He built furniture (and toys and rocking horses and a dunking booth and a pirate ship) for home and kids and grandkids, and eventually built a whole house and barn on the land where he grew up. After leaving the SCS, he ran the Fort Sill "U Do It" on-base home improvement group and won national awards. In recent years he loved old Westerns, flashlights, batteries, and bargains at estate sales or Atwood's. He had a strong independent streak that kept him living mostly as he wanted, on his own, after Jo's death, until illness intervened three months ago.

Jim was born in Carnegie in September, 1934, the middle of seven siblings, and graduated from Anadarko High School in 1952. He hitchhiked home, in uniform, from his California naval base to marry his former rural neighbor Jo Ann Cottrell in her parents' home in 1957. Beth was born in Cyril in 1958, just before he left the Navy, and then he joined the SCS and they moved to Guthrie. Jimmy, Jr. was born in 1962 after they transferred to Clinton. Family vacations were camping / road trips, starting with an army surplus tent and eventually upgrading to a camper shell on an early 60's Chevy pickup (with a convertible bed/table by Jim and cushions and curtains by Jo) and finally a camping trailer. After another transfer and 8 years in Miami, they returned home to Anadarko, living in the house he built in the country and enjoying the birds and the wildlife. Before and after retirement, they loved traveling across the US and the UK with friends and family, stopping at every interesting sight or museum. They moved to an easier-to-maintain life in Chickasha in 2011, and he kept himself busy in his large wood shop. JoJo and PePa were enthusiastic cheerleaders and emergency caregivers for their three grandchildren and were doting great-grandparents.

Jim is survived by his children Beth & James Jones and Jim & Teresa Polly; siblings and in-laws Dick Polly, Lou Ann and Rick Watts, Deveta Miller, and Virgean Polly; grandchildren Emma and Zack Taylor, Hannah Jones and John Nelson, and Joshua Polly; and great-grandchildren Lucy and Teddy Taylor; as well as many nieces, nephews, and neighbors.

There will be a private family service at a later date.