Jule Leroy ‘Buss’ Jolley

June 3, 1919 – Feb. 18, 2014

Jule Leroy “Buss” Jolley, 94, died Feb. 18, at his Canyon City home. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 1, at Canyon City Cemetery.

He was born June 3, 1919, in Abilene, Kan., to Alfred and Ruby Jolley. He graduated from Abilene High School in 1938, and attended Kansas State College in Manhatten, Kan. While pursuing a degree in journalism, he became interested in radio, and left school to work full-time for station KFBI in Wichita.

Mr. Jolley married Dorothy Marie Dayhoff on Dec. 8, 1940, at the Methodist Church Parish in Abilene.

On Sept. 9, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to the 906th Signal Corps, attached to the 11th Air Force, based at Elmendorf Field in Anchorage, Alaska.

Following his honorable discharge in 1945, the couple moved to Albany where, after a short stint working in a plywood mill, he returned to radio as the program director for station KWIL. In 1957, he became station manager of KNPT in Newport, until moving on to KGAL in Lebanon.

That fall, Ted Smith, part-owner and manager of KUMA in Pendleton, and C.H. “Pop” Fisher, of Fisher Communications in Portland, hired him to bring a radio station to Grant County. He, his wife and son, Steve, moved to Canyon City, where he helped establish KJDY. He managed the station until his retirement in 1981.

His hobbies included fly fishing, woodworking, ham radio operation (KA7ELJ), gardening and his pets.

Survivors include his son, Steve (Patty) of Canyon City; and nephews, Doug (Marne) of Salina, Kan., Ron (Patsy) of Perry, Okla, and Douglas (Julie) of Laguna Beach, Calif.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy; one brother; one half-brother; and two half-sisters.

Memorial contributions may be made to Blue Mountain Home Health and Hospice through Driskill Memorial Chapel, 241 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845.