George Jennison Jr.

1923 - 2020

George Jennison, Jr.

George Jennison, Jr. (1923-2020) Our amazing dad George died peacefully Thursday night with family by his side. George was a humble, hardworking man who valued faith, family, and service to others above all else. George was born in downtown Los Angeles to Hazel and George Sr. He had five siblings whom he loved deeply. George's Catholic faith was always incredibly important to him. He attended Cathedral High School where he was the student body president and was even appointed the honorary mayor of Los Angeles. He then attended Loyola University (LMU) on a football scholarship, before he joined the armed forces in WWII. He served as a boot camp instructor in San Antonio before being deployed with the 82nd airborne on the Queen Mary to serve with the peace-keeping troops in Berlin. While in Texas and Europe and after his military service, George attended college not only to finish his bachelor's degree but because he loved to learn. After he returned from Berlin he attended USC and Stanford University where he received his MBA. He then took over his brother Walter's business, the Home Textile Center in Montrose, and served the community there for many years. He met the love of his life, our mom Jinny, on a blind date at the soda counter in Montrose. They got married in 1949 and had nine spectacular children together.

After building a home next door to his sister and brother-in-law in La Cañada, and raising their kids there for over 30 years, George and Jinny moved to Palo Cedro to begin their retirement years. George had a love for ranches and all things farming. They built onto a small vacation home and promptly put in a pool so that George could swim every night during the summer (and to make sure the grandkids would come to visit). On his farm, George raised cows, chickens, sheep, dogs, cats and horses and even had Tyrone the llama for 25 years. He loved to tinker in his garage and build or "fix" anything (even though oftentimes the fix was worse than the break). Throughout his life our dad would quietly drive cancer patients to treatment, pay for someone else's bill, give his weekly donation to the food pantry or help a friend or stranger. He valued work and service and was never one to waste time, yet he always took time to talk to strangers.

It's hard to summarize a great man in a few paragraphs. Our dad got kinder and more grateful as he got older. He never forgot his humble roots and he worked hard so that all of his kids could have a good home. He loved learning, a good party, and sports, especially college football. He always had a huge bowl of ice cream after dinner and his eyes would light up whenever he saw young children. We will never forget how he ended every call with the reminder to say our prayers.

George is survived by his sweet sister Dorothy Elvin, nine kids and their spouses who loved him dearly, 22 grandkids and 18 great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Moebius Syndrome Foundation https://moebiussyndrome.org (in honor of their great grandchild Nicholas) or to the food pantry at Our Lady of Mercy, 2600 Shasta View Drive, Redding, CA 96002.