Tilley, Eugenia (Genie) Elizabeth (Morris) (2014)

TILLEY, MORRIS, POWER, MOSS, STOVAL, STOWE-SETTLES, HARPER, HOUSE, PILLAY

Posted By: Mary Hart, Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/11/2014 at 11:02:25

Stillwater News Press, Stillwater, Okla.
Jun 19, 2014

EUGENIA (GENIE) ELIZABETH (MORRIS) TILLEY

Tilley, Eugenia (Genie) Elizabeth Morris, 90, died June 18, 2014, in Perry, Okla. A funeral service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2014, in the Strode Funeral Home Chapel, Stillwater with a visitation to follow. Strode Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. A second visitation and service with interment will follow in Churdan, Iowa.

Eugenia was born April 6, 1924, in Fulton County, Ga., on the west side of the Chattahoochee River on Power’s Ferry Road to the late Luther Burney Morris and Eugenia Elizabeth Power Morris. She grew up and attended schools on the north side of Atlanta, Ga. From the age of 16, she worked at the Atlanta Farmer’s Market, Peachtree Hills Pharmacy and for the Southern Railway.

She married Virgil Albert Tilley on Oct. 28, 1944. Eugenia and Virgil moved to Iowa in December 1945 with their first son, Joe, in a five passenger, 1936 Ford convertible following Virgil’s discharge from the U.S. Army. They rented farms east of Churdan and in the edge of Adaza, Iowa, where they farmed and operated an auction service. The first farm they purchased was south of Churdan where they lived from 1962 to 1989, farming and operating Tilley Auction Service.

In 1989, they moved to Stillwater, Okla., after they retired, although there were frequent visits back to the farm. Eugenia loved to sew, quilt, cook, do crafts, raise vegetables and take care of her grandchildren and friends. She was an active member of the United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Women in both Churdan and at First United Methodist Church in Stillwater. Eugenia was a member and Noble Grand of the Rebekah Lodge, International Order of Oddfellows, and Order of the Eastern Star in Churdan. She was proud of her husband’s military service and was active in Legion Auxiliary. She loved to tell stories about her childhood growing up with her brothers and sisters in the hills on the north side of Atlanta, Georgia.

Eugenia is preceded in death by her husband, Virgil; parents; sisters, Ethel Moss (Roswell, Ga.), Bernice Stoval (Loganville, Ga.), Grace Stowe-Settles (Alpharetta, Ga.), and Sallie Harper, (DeKalb Co., Ga.); brothers, Fred Morris (Port Arthur, Texas), Jerry Morris (Cumming/Roswell, Ga.), Luther (infant death), and David (infant death).

She is survived by her two sons: Daniel and his wife, Marcia (Stillwater, Okla.), and Joseph and his wife, Barbara (Carroll, Iowa); brother, Charles Morris (Alpharetta, Ga.); sister, Katherine Morris House (Milton, Ga.); and five grandchildren: Alec Tilley and his wife, Pam; Joseph Tilley and his wife, Laura; Ann Tilley Reider and her husband, Ryan; Nicole Tilley Pillay and her husband, Pra, and Matthew Tilley. She is also survived by 12 great grandchildren: Emma, Grant, Claire, Zane, Talia, Elizabeth, Grace, Lindley, Austin, Payton, Nikki, and Emily.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church, 400 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074 or to the Churdan United Methodist Church, 804 Head Street, Churdan, Iowa 50050.