Emma Jane Bolding

Emma Jane 'Lile' Bolding, a precious mother, grandmother, sister and friend passed away March 24, 2025.  Memorial services are planned at a later date.

Emma Jane Lile was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma on March 21,1927 to Lillian 'Fritchman' Lile and Virgil J. Lile. She was a preemie in the days where it was hard to keep a preemie alive. It was because of the dedication of her two grandmothers taking turns feeding her breast milk with an eye dropper that she was saved. She was a miracle from the beginning. Being small never kept her from helping outdoors on the farm, always with a smile and a song.

Her most treasured accomplishment was being able to complete Primary School in a one room country schoolhouse. She taught all her children a song she learned from her first teacher, "Whatever the weather we will make it together, in work and in play we will have a good day."

Emma Jane's love for God was nurtured from the very beginning in childhood by her Grandma Jennie B. Lile, an Advent preacher. She attended a church close to her country home, and her love for the Bible grew. When she married Richard Bolding they moved to California to live near his family, eventually putting down their roots in Fresno, California. They raised two sons and five daughters. Emma Jane was a mother who brought sunshine into her home and shared that light with everyone she met. She put many miles on her two feet walking every one of her children to school and was well known to all the neighbors she met on the way.

Emma Jane had a deep love of the Bible and soon found a little Baptist church for her and her eldest five children to attend on Sunday. After her sixth child was born it was harder for her to continue going to church, but she would study with any missionary that came to her door. This desire to understand and follow God's word, eventually led her to become a member of the Clovis Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1969 where she became a faithful teacher in children's ministry for forty years.

She was preceded in death by her husband Richard Charlie "R.C." Bolding, her three sisters, Edna, Pearl and Rosie of Oklahoma, R.C. Sisters, Esther, Patricia, Mary, his brothers Ray and Gary and her daughter Candace J. Smith.

She treasured all of her family, and her greatest longing was for those whom she loved to walk "across Heaven" with her on that Blessed Resurrection Morning.

She is survived by her Aunt Ina Mae and those cousins and families, a sister June Hall of Oklahoma and June's daughter and son and grandchildren and their families, many nieces and nephews from her sisters, many nieces from R.C.'s sisters and brothers, a sister-in-law, Betty Poli of California and her two daughters Gina and Franca, and their families, her children Bert Bolding and wife Norma and their daughter Vicki and her family, Richard Bolding Jr. and his 4 children, Raymond, Melissa, Michell and Brittney and their families, daughter Tricia Harr, and her 2 daughters, Peggy and Mary, and son, Caleb and their families, daughter Janna Kay Hoffman and her husband Dale and their 2 daughters, Spring and Summer and their families, daughter Elaine L. Bolding and her daughter Marietta, and sons, Nicolas, Leland and Gage and their families, her daughter Candace's husband John Smith, and their son, Sonny, and daughters Christina and Sarah and their families, and daughter Linda Bolding, and her daughters, Angelica and Joyce and sons Alan and Paul and their families, then there are twenty-three great grandchildren and 10 great, great grandchildren.

As you can see, she is leaving a loving legacy.