Family, friends mourn Utah man killed in off-road race

KNOLLS, Utah (KSL.com) — Family and friends are mourning the death of a Layton man who died in a rollover crash during an off-roading race Saturday.

Charles Jerome Glover, known as CJ, was acting as a navigator during an off-roading race in Knolls called the Knolls 200. The truck rolled near the beginning of the race and killed the 33-year-old. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The driver of the truck did not sustain life-threatening injuries, according to Glover’s family.

Glover leaves behind a wife and two young children, as well as devastated family and friends.

Josh Unice, Glover’s friend of 15 years, described him as “the most full of life person I think I’ve ever met, just passionate, did everything to the max. He was our friend that you came around him and you were just immediately — the amount of energy he had was contagious,” he said. “This is so surreal because he is literally the most full-of-life person you can imagine. To have it cut short, it just doesn’t seem fair.”

Anthony Wayne Glover described his son as “adventurous” and “always challenging things.” He was a gymnast, dancer, who played football and ran track when he was younger. He had recently begun a job as a Salt Lake City-based pilot for JetBlue, after previously completing a two-year program with SkyWest.

“There’s just certain people in your life that you just assume nothing’s ever gonna happen to them because they’re strong and they challenge everything. He was unkillable. He did the craziest stuff and never got hurt,” said Unice. “When I got the call it was devastating for us — not only for us — as my best friend but just to imagine his parents who have had this happen before and his wife who’s now a single mom.”

Glover’s death is the fourth of Anthony Glover’s children to die. The eldest boy of seven children, the loss was amplified by the previous deaths of three other children in the family.

Glover’s father was contacted at his son’s home in Layton about 7:15 a.m. on Saturday. Anthony Glover was watching the two young grandchildren when he was notified to call a phone number regarding his son. Glover’s wife, Jenessa Glover, was out of town for a bridal shower at the time.

“At that time I got this just heart-dropping feeling as I called the number,” Anthony Glover recalled. “I knew something wasn’t right.”

Glover was informed that his son had died in a crash that morning, not long after he had spoken with him over the phone. Despite the grief, Glover’s father began to immediately notify his wife and worked to notify his daughter-in-law.

When he notified his wife she had “the worst scream that you can even hear,” Glover’s father recalled. His wife then contacted Jenessa Glover’s mother who lives in St. George and went to get her daughter, he said.

“She’s having a hard time right now — very hard,” Anthony Glover said of his daughter-in-law. “You talk about love on a 10 scale. It was love on a 10 scale. She supported him and everything he did. He supported her and everything she did. I mean, that was a perfect relationship.”

The couple had been married for about six years and have two children, ages 4 and 1. Glover is remembered as a wonderful father and husband.

“His kids came first — his kids and wife — always first no matter what,” said his father.

“I think the hardest part about it is CJ — he’s just so motivated and wanted to provide an amazing life for his family. That was his No. 1 focus,” Unice said. “He worked day and night finishing their house after his full-time job and that’s just who he was. Because he wanted to build an amazing life. That was his dream, give his kids and his wife a really cool life.”

To help carry on Glover’s dedication to his family — Unice has set up a GoFundMe account to help provide for Jenessa Glover and their two children.

“I think (he’s) probably … looking down knowing that he left so many things — in his mind unfinished — to know that other people are donating and helping has got to be making him very happy and at peace,” Unice said.