Ada Ja Lene Grames' Obituary
Ada Ja Lene Heywood Grames passed away quietly in Salt Lake City, Utah, the evening of December 2, 2018 at age 88. Her brother Robert and his wife, Christine, were at her bedside. Her son, Conan, was in Japan, and daughter, Rochelle, was rushing to Utah from Atlanta at the time, but both were able to speak to her on the phone shortly before she left this life.Ja Lene was born in Salt Lake City on March 18, 1930, while her father was studying at Brigham Young University. Due to the Great Depression, the family returned home to Panguitch, Utah, where Ja Lene spent her early years. The Heywoods made several moves seeking steady work, but they eventually settled in Cedar City, Utah, where Ja Lene met Lloyd, the high school student body president and star running back on the football team. He was attracted to this beautiful, vivacious, and spunky tumbler. They spent the next 63 years as inseparable partners.Upon graduation from Utah State University, Lloyd became the city engineer for Cedar City but was enticed to Salt Lake City by an offer from the Pacific Board of Fire Underwriters. There Ja Lene developed her green thumb, and the two of them designed and created a beautiful home where their award-wining landscape was featured in Sunset magazine. A job change to the Envirotech company took them and Rochelle to San Mateo, California, in 1971, where Ja Lene went right to work making their home a place of beauty. The new job eventually led to an assignment in Japan. There they joined Conan’s family in Tokyo for almost three years, and Rochelle met husband, Mark, while staying with them during her breaks from school. This experience added Japanese bonsai to Ja Lene’s artistic talents. She and Lloyd worked together on this hobby for the rest of their lives and were charter members of the Seiboku Bonsai Club in San Mateo. Ja Lene’s love of Japan was obvious as you walked through every room in her lovely home.She and Lloyd loved collecting unique attractions—like a South African bush baby (a feisty little primate that is now displayed in the San Francisco Museum of Natural History) and a marimba (which Ja Lene learned to play as a young mother). Her home was a haven for anyone who visited but especially for her grandchildren who loved her offerings of Japanese mini-bikes, exotic ornaments, worldwide foods, endless treats, tours of the San Francisco Bay, and of course, bonsai. She loved animals and always joked that her favorite grandchildren were the dogs in the family. But mostly Ja Lene loved people and would do anything in her power to help anyone in her circle of family, neighbors, friends, and even strangers. She was known for her generosity, especially her gifts of time.Ja Lene cherished her family: her son, Conan, and his wife, Cindy, and their six children, and daughter, Rochelle, and her husband, Mark, and their three children. She was able to see thirteen of her fourteen great-grandchildren before she went to join Lloyd, her eternal sweetheart.
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