Memorial Day 2015

Because we remember.

Because we visit when we can. 

Because we need to learn their stories.

But because the stories are lost to time

we wear the reminder NOT to forget 

every day.

For our family's Army, Air Force, and Navy veterans,

lost in service

or bearing the scars for years to come.

43 Ideas for Birthday 43: Passage(s) on a Private Plane

Yo fat cats!* You need to use up your share on your private jet? Need to make your private pilots earn their keep? Need to use the plane to justify its purchase? Want to just be an all-round mensch?

I may have need for some trips from NY, to DC for a pickup, and then out to West. When? I can't tell you until I have to tell you. That's the way of these things. Just being able to pick up the phone, place an order with you, your plane butler and/or pilot(s), zip down to the private hangar at the local(ish) airport and get in the air and get to my destination(s), that would be really helpful for me and my family. Like an eternal blessing kindof helpful.

Oh Birthday Fairy, please connect me to those peeps.

Plus, it would be my way of getting to get a ride in a private plane.

Hey, a girl can put this out into the universe, right? No harm, no foul.

 

* I am sorry. What IS the appropriate terminology with someone with deep, deep pockets who can float multiple private plane trips without it impacting them one bit? And don't expect anything in return from me and mine?

** No insult to people with higher than average BMI or cats with the same issue.

*** What do normal people do? Stress out!

Farewell to Flora / Funeral Program

The text from the funeral program:

In loving memory of

Flora C. Morgan Tillery

Dec. 29, 1925 to Aug. 11, 2014

Farewell to Flora

Honored Mother, Beloved Grandmother, Cherished Friend

Presiding: President Dean Witt

Conducting: Bishop Pauline

Organist: Tyler Howell

Chorister: Nyla Tillery

Opening Hymn: Page 295 Love at Home

Opening Prayer: Torianna Deason

Welcome by Bishop Pauline

Musical Number Families Can Be Together Forever

by grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Accompanist: Carolyne Tillery

Memories of Grandma: Lis Noyes

Eulogy: Lurane Van Nortwick

Poem Words of Wisdom from Grandma

Reading by Chris Tillery

Speaker: Wayne Tillery

Musical Number: Luke and Chrystal Tillery

Poem Memories of Mother

Reading by Myriah Tillery

Spiritual Thought: Preidesnt Dean Nelson

Closing Remarks: Bishop Pauline

Closing Song: Page 152 God Be With You

Closing Prayer: Lee Maxfield

Travel to Graveside Services Following our Chapel Meeting

Pall Bearers: Flora's Grandsons, (listed by age)

Eli Hallack, Gabriel Hallak, Carl Noyes, Warren Schroeder, Any Van Nortwick, Jason Randolph, Daniel Hallak, Patrick Tillery, Brian Tillery, Luke Tillery, Justus Tillery, Chris Tillery, Tommy Tillery, Tyler Tillery,
Connelly Tillery, Axel Deason

Internment:

Clovis Cemetery

305 North Villa Avenue

Clovis, CA 93612

Graveside Dedication:

Conducting: Bishop Pauline

Opening Prayer: Anngela Schroeder

Remarks: Bishop Pauline

Dedication of the Grave: Wayne Tillery

Closing Song: (see insert for music)*

Closing Prayer: Justus Tillery

"Sorrow forgot, Loves purest joys restored.

Be Still my Soul. When change and tears are past.

All safe and blessed, we shall meet at last."

*not included

Memories of Mother

I wonder if the little path
  Still winds across the sod-
The little, narrow, beaten path
  Where friendly feet have trod,
I wonder if the trumpet wine
  And flowing almond tree
Are blooming along the way
  Just where they used to be.

I wonder if small children's feet
  Are eager still to climb
The old board fence and "cute across,"
  As long ago did mine,
And if the same old kitchen door
  Is standing open wide,
Where eager eyes may catch
  A glimpse of mother's face inside.

Oh little memories like these
  Come creeping in betimes
And sing themselves to little tunes
  And set themselves to rymes.
Just haunting little memories
  That seem to cling and guide
The thoughts along to open doors
  And mother's face inside.

Someday I'll find another path
  Where friendly feet have trod,
That's leading down the valley road
  And o'er the hills to God.
When on those strange eternal shores
  The heavenly gates swing wide,
'Twill just be "Home Sweet Home"
  Once More
With Mother's Face Inside.

Farewell to Flora: Family, Food, and Fotos

Funeral shots and Family courtesy of Grumpa with captions by him:
 

Funeral:

Looking back at the family and friends as Bishop introduced those dedicating grave and closing prayer.
Wayne dedicated the gravesite and one of his sons closed the service there.

Friends meeting friends and Daniel with wife and Wayne’s son next to the Stake President who was Aunt Flora's Home Teacher for years.

Ray and Debbie made it to the Monday service and stayed till Tuesday at 6PM (with Grandmary re-hydrating in the California heat.) [Ray and Debbie are Grumpa Max's cousins from his Uncle Wayne and Aunt Teddy UT side of the family.]

Louie with Angela and Daniel’s wife and baby girl. [Louie was Flora Annie's husband.]

 Funeral Family dinner:

This table was mostly Flora Ann’s kids and grandkids. Gabe, Daniel’s wife, Daniel with baby, Nyla with one of the grandchildren (one of Luke’s I think), Abe with two of his girls, Ray and one I don’t know

Same as before but the two girls are Abe’s: oldest is theirs and other adopted.

This table I shot because Lurane’s first husband, Jerry, and Lisa’s husband Karl were in it.

 Group shot without Pat and his children. Next shot has them in it but I ended up cutting off the left side.

 

 I didn’t count the heads but Aunt Flora has a big family. Only one grandchild and her two children missing, maybe.

Sunday Evening Dinner:
The dinner served about 150 with me just taking a few shots.

Below are family candid shots of some of the 75 kids grand-kids, and great grand-kids that attended that meal.

Above is Lisa in white, Pat's daughter in black, Kyle in blue and his new girlfriend.

Billy (Bill) is in print shirt, Peggy beside him.

 Wayne’s wife, their youngest daughter with a sibling's kid, (Grand)Mary and Louie in background

Wayne’s married daughter and her baby, one of Luke's sons, Wayne’s middle daughter, and another of Wayne’s single sons.

The oldest members of the family staying out of the way. [Editor's note: my brothers made cracks here about faces and red solo cups being appropriate for every family gathering.]

The yard and pool were full of kids. Some of the kids were allowed a Sunday swim and others were not. Doesn’t mean they didn’t get wet.

At this table we had Luke with glasses on head, Daniel, Luke’s wife, Angela with one son and one of Daniel’s adopted girls.

 Tom’s son up from TX without family, Abe getting drinks for his family, another of Wayne’s single sons.

What a legacy!

Farewell to Flora: Obituary / Family Photos

Flora Morgan Tillery 

The Fresno Bee, Fresno, CA 

August 15, 2014

Flora Tillery passed away on Monday, August 11, 2014, in Fresno, CA at the age of 88 from Congestive Heart Failure. Flora was born in Delta, UT on December 29, 1925, to Lula Annie Johnson Morgan and Ira Roy Morgan. She grew up in Delta and attended Delta High School until she met and married Corporal Marion L. Tillery an MP stationed in Delta. They were married on July 1, 1943. Upon his discharge from the US Army at the end of WWII, the couple settled in Rexburg, ID for a short time. In 1954, due to Flora's health, they moved to Fresno, CA where the weather was warmer and dryer. In 1961, they moved to a home in Clovis where she remained for the next 53 years. Flora worked at the donut shop in Delta as a teenager. At Safeway Supermarket as a checker while a newlywed, and at JC Penneys as a clerk. In 1963 she began her career with Clovis Unified Schools Food Services as a kitchen helper. She retired 25 years later as the Assistant Director over Food Services. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lula and Ira Roy; her sisters, Mildred Morgan and Roa Maxfield; and her brother, Wayne D. Morgan. She lost her husband to cancer in 2001. Her son Pat Tillery was the first child she lost to death in August of 2002. Her daughters Flora Ann Hallak and Janean Reynolds died in May 2008 three weeks apart. She is survived by her daughter, Lurane Van Nortwick and son-in-law Tom of Fresno; her son, Wayne L. Tillery and his wife Nyla of Rigby, ID, and her son Bill Tillery and his wife Becky of Clovis, CA; son-in-law, Louie Hallak of San Fernando, CA; and daughter-in-law, Peggy Tillery of Hanford, CA. Her love and loss will be felt by 24 grandchildren; 43 greatgrandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren. Her family would like to thank all those who took such great care of Flora over the past 20 years. From her hair dresser to her many doctors, her physical therapists, the medical staff at the hospital, her neighbors, and her wonderful Home Teachers, Visiting Teachers and Church Leaders who loved her so much, kept her going and became some of her dearest friends. A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, August 18, 2014, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, at 220 N. Peach, Clovis, CA at 10:00 a.m. Viewing will be held at the same location at 9:00 a.m. Lisle Funeral Home, 1605 'L' Street, Fresno, California (559)266-0666

 

Published in the Fresno Bee on Aug. 15, 2014

Grumpa took lots of photos. These are shots of all the family photos that were assembled for the funeral. What a legacy.

 

 

Family Trees: So Many (Broken) Branches

This will be a series of family genealogy posts all circulating around an obituary... so, I'm warning you.

You can skip ahead if not interesting to you. But as the family library/archivist/documentarian, I'm going to post these, so they are SOMEWHERE for future generations.

You know how people always make a list of things they would do if they won the lottery?

A new car!

A new house!

Vacations!

Cruises!

College funds!

Endowments Funds!

But more realistically, debt reduction!

Yes, to all of the above, but I would LOVE to have the resources to employ a team from "Who Do You Think You Are?" to  track down the information on a particular line of my family tree. That of my Grandpa Jack.

Maternal Grandma Ollie did such a good job back-tracing her family lines, back in the day before the Internet. My paternal lines are starting to come together - thanks to unique family surnames.

But my mother's father's side of the family?

Well, therein lies the mystery - and really only three to four generations back.

Bear with me ...

This is Grandmary (on a beach!)

photo c. Grumpa, this summer, Oregon Coast

 This on the left is her father's headstone, Grandpa Jack aka Jasper, and

 (right) a picture of a picture of Grandpa Jack. I don't have an actual copy of a photo, and this is a lousy one at that. This original is in Grandmary's possession. There aren't that many photos of Grandpa Jack. This is 8 years before I came along. He's holding up some of his tobacco crop; he was a farmer. The "Agrico" logo on the matte is for a fertilizer company.

 
This is the headstone for my great-grandmother Mary Ann, Jack's mother.

Here's where things get interesting.

Grandpa Jack had a brother, Ira -- pronounced in Southern as "Ory." You try taking an oral history thinking you hear Ory and it's written IRA! Not at all confusing. And the nicknames --- a curse for future genealogists.

Grandpa Jack and Great-Uncle Ira had the same mother, Mary Ann, but different fathers. Half-siblings, yes, AND different surnames. Ira's family used Mary Ann's surname of Bass. So very "interesting......." Something is up there, no?!

Anyway ...

Uncle Ira had children, Grandmary's cousins.

This is a picture of Uncle Ira with his wife Flossie.

taken at Cousin Ida's house in NC, 2010

This is Grandmary on the left with her cousin Ida on the right, c. the North Carolina road-trip of 2010.

See a similarity? (Reminds me: I need glasses - like last decade.)

That genetic legacy is on two sides of a branch of the family tree, and traces down to me, to my brother J, and to his daughter Amber. We can trace it back to great-grandmother Mary Ann. We'd like to trace it further back, but the family history is murky. So many questions, like: Why weren't Ira and Jack raised together? Who were the fathers? Who were Mary Ann's people? What was the story? Must have been a doozy. It's not been told. Also, where is the rumor-family connection to a possible Southern Native American tribe? SOME people in the family can tan like you can't believe. Others of us -- so, so, so, pale to the point of ghost-like.

Sadly, the connections to the past are being lost to time.

We learned this summer that another North Carolina relative, Grandmary's cousin and Cousin Ida's sister, Pauline - aka Ms. Polly - also died in July.

I had only visited Ms. Polly a few times, but Grandma Ollie made a point to keep in contact with Grandpa Jack's side of the family once he passed, and Grandmary continued/continues to do so. I am glad I got to visit back in 2010 and see Ms. Polly for the last time. She was frail even then, and you could see the decline, but she still made an effort for our quick visit.

I had to shoot these surreptitiously.  You need to be discreet when on a proper Southern "rock and talk" with the older generation of relatives.

I much prefer this picture from her obit. That's really how I remember her from when I was much younger.

Obits - for genealogical purposes 

Pauline “Ms. Polly” Bass Gardner

 

Goldsboro Daily News (N.C.)

July 19, 2014

July 19, 94, Pikeville (N.C.)

Pauline “Ms. Polly” Bass Gardner, 94, passed away on Saturday, July 19, 2014 at Wayne Memorial Hospital surrounded by her loving family.

Pauline was born in Johnston County on January 19, 1920, to the late Ira and Flossie Mitchell Bass. She was married to the late Grover Gardner. Pauline was a member of Pleasant Grove Free Will Baptist Church. Although Pauline leaves a vacant place in our hearts, we know she truly earned her special place in heaven. Pauline will always be remembered as a loyal woman of faith, love and respect for everyone who touched her life.

Funeral services will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 20, 2014 in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home with the Rev. Barry Stallings and Rev. Anderson Barnes officiating. Interment will be on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. in the Pikeville Cemetery.

Pauline is survived by her daughter Pat and husband Nick Sutton of Pikeville; sons, Jimmy Gardner and wife Joan of Pikeville, Kenneth Gardner and wife Mary of Pikeville; sisters, Helen Thorn of Goldsboro, and Ida Padgett of Goldsboro; seven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents and her husband she was preceded in death by her sisters, Hilda McManus and Maebelle White and brothers, Ira D. Bass and Eurice Bass.

The family will receive friends following the service at Seymour Funeral Home and at other times at the home.

The family request memorials be made to Lancaster Bryan Sunday School Class, % Pleasant Grove FWB Church, P. O. Box 36, Pikeville, N. C. 27863

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com

The Goldsboro News-Argus (N.C.)

Published in Obituaries on July 20, 2014 12:39 PM

Pauline Bass Gardner

Jan. 19, 1920-July 19, 2014

Pauline "Ms. Polly" Bass Gardner, 94, passed away on Saturday, July 19, 2014, at Wayne Memorial Hospital surrounded by her loving family.

Pauline was born in Johnston County on Jan. 19, 1920, to the late Ira and Flossie Mitchell Bass. She was married to the late Grover Gardner. Pauline was a member of Pleasant Grove Free Will Baptist Church.

Although Pauline leaves a vacant place in our hearts, we know she truly earned her special place in heaven. Pauline will always be remembered as a loyal woman of faith, love and respect for everyone who touched her life.
Funeral services will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 20, 2014, in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home, with the Rev. Barry Stallings and Rev. Anderson Barnes officiating. Interment will be on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 10 a.m. at the Pikeville Cemetery.

Pauline is survived by her daughter, Pat, and husband Nick Sutton of Pikeville; sons, Jimmy Gardner and wife, Joan, of Pikeville, Kenneth Gardner and wife, Mary, of Pikeville; sisters, Helen Thorn of Goldsboro and Ida Padgett of Goldsboro; seven grandchildren,10 great-grandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by her sisters, Hilda McManus and Maebelle White, and brothers, Ira D. Bass and Eurice Bass.

The family will receive friends following the service at Seymour Funeral Home and at other times at the home.
The family requests memorials be made to Lancaster Bryan Sunday School Class, Pleasant Grove FWB Church,
P. O. Box 36, Pikeville, N. C. 27863

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)

WEB-CAST VIDEO CLIPS

There was even a 36 minute recording made of the web-cast of Ms. Polly's funeral service/sermon. Now, that's a first! My Grandma Ollie would NOT know what to do about that.

For the link, please go to: http://webcast.funeralrecording.com/events/viewer/6234/hash:86115587E8FF0965

So much Southern twang, but some stories and preaching bring her to life beyond the words of a printed notice.

Obituaries contain a wealth of family history information. When you can, always include them - and all versions you can find. You may think it's redundant, but sometimes, a slight variation in an obit will have a clue that another version will not.