Jolly Coppersmith Tingstrom

(1950-2018)

Jolly Coppersmith Tingstrom, 67, passed away on January 29, 2018, in Santa Barbara, California. She was born in San Diego, California, on March 25, 1950 to John and Elva Coppersmith. Because her father served in the United States Navy, Jolly's childhood was spent in many different places, including Hawaii, Oregon, California and Pennsylvania. She graduated from Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, California in 1968. After her graduation, she attended San Diego State University for two years, and then launched off into a very interesting and diverse work life. She joined Pan American Airlines, where she traveled the world serving as a flight attendant. Following her work with Pan Am, she traveled around the United States working in sales for several companies and started her own jewelry business. In 1980, Jolly was hired by Union Oil to be one of the first women to work on its oil platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara. In 1993, Jolly moved to Bellingham, Washington. She worked at Sea Mar Visions Youth Treatment Center for 11 years, helping many young women to deal with addictive issues and to find sobriety in their lives.

In 2013, Jolly reconnected with Richard Tingstrom, a good friend she had met while working on the offshore oil platforms in the 1980's. She and Richard were married on August 15, 2015 in Santa Barbara, California. Richard and Jolly brought each other so much happiness and joy, and together they experienced one of the very best seasons of their lives while they traveled to many different places around the world and enjoyed working together in Tinker's catering business and his restaurant, "Tinkers" in Summerland.

People were important to Jolly. She was a good listener, had a great sensitivity to what people were going through, and liked helping those in need. Always looking for the good in others, she was appreciative, encouraging, non-judgmental and loving in her relationships. With her vibrant, positive and uplifting personality, Jolly lived up to her given name. She, in turn, had many friends throughout her life's journey.

Jolly enjoyed many things in life. She appreciated God's creation and liked spending time outdoors -walking, collecting rocks, and seeing small things in nature that many others would miss. She loved the ocean and water, and could go kayaking and fishing for hours. Music lifted her spirit, and she often had music playing when she was at home - listening to everything from Celtic Women to Fleetwood Mac to worship songs and hymns. Always curious and a life-long learner, Jolly enjoyed traveling -- in recent years, she and Richard took extended trips and cruises to places like Tahiti, China, the Panama Canal, Bali and Belize. She loved to watch movies, monitor the weather, and go shopping for a good bargain. She was artistic and creative, and enjoyed making jewelry and other gifts to give to the people in her life.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, Jolly treasured God's unconditional love and His abiding presence in her life. She knew that it was God's grace that carried her through the difficult times of life and enabled her to find recovery and enjoy sobriety for the past 25 years. She drew strength and courage from Him to go through her struggle with cancer and was confident that, in Christ, she would experience ultimate victory and healing in Heaven.

Family was also very important to Jolly. Her marriage to Richard brought the joy of sharing life with Richard's two children, Trevor Tingstrom of San Francisco, California and Megan Tingstrom of Carpinteria, California. She was very close to her two brothers, Mike Coppersmith of Georgetown, Texas, and David Coppersmith of Eagle Idaho - and their spouses, Donna and Betty. Following the death of her first mother, she was blessed with a second mother, Marilyn Arth Coppersmith who married her father in 1972. That marriage brought Jolly the gift of three more brothers who were very dear to her: Rick Arth and Don Arth of Ventura, California, and Ray Arth of Fresno, California - and their spouses, Linda, Nancy and Karen. Jolly also found great delight in her many nieces, nephews and cousins.

A Celebration of Jolly's life will be held at Calvary Chapel, 1 North Calle Cesar Chavez, Santa Barbara on Wednesday, February 7, 2018, at 11:00a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent in Jolly's name to The Serenity House Hospice Care, 930 Miramonte Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109.