Alice M. Tilley

Alice M. Tilley, 83 of Merritt Island, FL has gone into the light to enter heavens pearly gates where she will be met with open arms by her loving husband and life long partner Eliga along with her sister and best friend Floy Tidwell where together they will take her by the hand to meet Jesus her Lord and Savior. Alice was born June 30, 1925 in Maryville, TN to Adeline and Louis Vernon Cox. She was born into a loving family of 7 sisters Neil Cox and Floy Tidwell (who have gone to be with God), Mary Sue Tipton, Wanda Jean Gibson, Daisy Thomas, Patsy Hutson, and one brother L.V. (Sonny Boy) Cox. Alice graduated from Everett High School where she played on the girls basketball team and was a member of the band where she played the drums. Alice was proud that she was able to play a small part in American history when she worked during World War II on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, TN. This is where she met a young man named Eliga Tilley, to whom she later married on Christmas Eve at her parents home in the presence of her family and friends. She and her husband finally moved to Oak Ridge, TN where they worked and lived until their retirement in 1976 when they moved to Merritt Island, FL where Alice remained until her passing. Alice was also blessed with and survived by her 2 beautiful daughters, Donna Marie (Tilley) Towers of California, and Cindy Ann (Tilley) Palmer of Merritt Island, FL, their husbands Phillip Towers and Kenneth Palmer, her grandchildren Jason Christopher and Phillip Bryon Towers, Jessica Lynn and Michael Anthony Palmer. Alice lived a long and fruitful life with her family and friends. She had no regrets, not many do overs, at times wished that she could have done a few more things in life, but for the most part was very pleased with her life. Our mother will be greatly missed, thought about a lot, fun stories will be told about her, but most of all will just remember and love her. Funeral service will be at 7:00 PM, Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at Smith Trinity Chapel with Rev. Timonty Townsend officiating. Family and friends will assemble at 11:00 AM, Thursday, November 20, 2008 at Oak Ridge Memory Gardens for the interment. Family will receive friends from 5:00 until 7:00 PM, Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at Smith Trinity Chapel. Smith Funeral & Cremation Service, Maryville, 865-983-1000. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Alice M. Tilley please visit our Sympathy Store.