Jolynn Boice

Jolynn was born on January 18th, 1957 to Donald and Arlene Egbert. She was the oldest of two daughters. She grew up in East Millcreek, graduating from Skyline High School and the University of Utah. She married her high school sweetheart, R. Lane Boice on June 9th, 1977 in the Salt Lake Temple. Together they had four children and built a life together in Sandy. She loved her role as homemaker. She was creative and crafty, sweet and steady, and an angel in her children’s lives. She was active in the PTA and in her ward. She spent tax season helping in the family accounting business and spent her last years of life as a substitute teacher. She loved the relationships she built with teachers and students.

Her husband Lane was paralyzed in a recreational accident when their children were still young. She was his loyal caregiver and led her family through an uncertain and difficult time with grace. After years of trials, her sweetheart passed away in 1998 from cancer. Jolynn was the rock of her family. For 23 years, she held her family together as a single-parent, active in the little details of her children and grandchildren’s lives. Love was a verb to Jolynn, and she clearly let her family know how much she loved them. Her children relied on her sound advice-- there was no question she didn’t have the answer to. She loved hosting her family for Sunday dinner, and used her fancy china regularly. Where most families only had turkey on Thanksgiving, Jolynn made it a Sunday staple. She enjoyed making holidays memorable, and finding any reason to celebrate. She loved her home, her waterfall, her dogs, and her BMWs. She enjoyed visits with friends and getting together for lunch and dinner dates.

Jolynn loved traveling. She was an expert at finding good deals for herself and others. She was ALWAYS planning a trip. When you went to Jolynn’s house, you were sure to find travel books piled on the kitchen counter and Jolynn on the computer hunting for the best deals. Her children have wild memories of pulling their luggage through Pike Place Market, riding public busses with luggage in tow, and vacationing so hard that they needed to recover after traveling with Mom. For the past 10 years, Jolynn has been passing on her love of travel to her grandkids. Taking each on a one-on-one trip when they turned 8 gave her grandkids a precious memory with Grandma.

When she wasn’t traveling, Jolynn could be found at the baseball field. After raising two baseball loving sons, she was thrilled to support grandsons who played her favorite game. She was their #1 fan. The goal of watching even more baseball is what kept her alive for years after her terminal diagnosis. Some of her greatest memories in life, and some of her most precious relationships, were made at the baseball field. Although baseball was her favorite game, she was intimately involved in the lives of all of her grandchildren. Nothing brought her more fulfillment or greater joy than being a grandma. She was present at all of their activities, and prized quality time with them more than gifts or toys. She took them on outings to see monster trucks, feed penguins, shopping trips, broadway plays, hotel overnights, and pedicures. She would want others to know that TIME TOGETHER is the greatest gift of all.

Over the past two years, with her health fragile and failing, she used these beloved activities to motivate her to rehabilitate and give purpose to her days. Even with a terminal diagnosis, she was able to see countless baseball games, vacation to Canada, Hawaii, and Mexico, and take two of her grandsons on a Disney cruise. The week before her passing, she was in Mexico with her daughters, getting sand between her toes, sleeping by the ocean, and drinking an embarrassing amount of virgin pina coladas. She overcame incredible odds and declines in health over and over again, surprising her family and confounding doctors, with a will to live and stay with her family a little longer. She is the toughest, bravest, and most inspirational warrior we know and we are so proud to be hers. In her final years, her children were lucky enough to care for her in their homes, giving back tender care that she gave to us, and to our father, for so many years. All the good that we have and are is because of the love of our mother.

Jolynn is survived by her father, Donald L. Egbert, her sister Karen (Glade) Butterfield, and her four children: Patrick (Tara) Boice, Courtney Santos, Ashley (Jake) Cannon, and Parker (Paige) Boice. We have no doubt that the ones she’ll miss the most are her precious 12 grandchildren: Aidan, Olivia, Elsje, Ethan, Bianca, Sophie, Finn, Quincy, Remington, Beatrix, Laney, and Jones. She is preceded in death by her husband, R. Lane Boice and her mother, Arlene Egbert. We are so grateful for years of care by her trusted doctor, Dr. Sanda Buys, and the rest of the Huntsman team of nurses.

A viewing will be held at the Eastdell Chapel (9855 S. Eastdell Drive, Sandy) on Wednesday evening from 6:00-7:30 pm and again on Thursday beginning at 11:30 am. Funeral services will be Thursday, May 27th at 1:00 pm at the same chapel. To remember Jolynn’s life, her family asks you to have dinner with your family tonight... and plan a trip!