| Graduation Year | Class of 1958 |
| Date of Birth | Jan 23, 1940 |
| Date of Passing | Jun 17, 2018 |
| About | Donna Jean Tilley, of Double Oak, Texas, passed away on June 17, 2018, in Carrollton, Texas at the age of 78. Donna was born January 23, 1940 in Baggs, Wyoming to Roland and Bernice Hays, and lived her early childhood on her parents' homestead in Craig, Colorado. Her family soon moved to Kansas, where her parents owned a mobile home park in the town of Ogden, just outside Fort Riley. Donna was deeply devoted to her family, with a favorite childhood memory being evenings spent making music with her dad on piano, her brother Dean on guitar, and Donna herself playing the accordion. While attending Manhattan High School, Donna first met Allen David Tilley one day while leaving the church her family attended, and where Allen was a lay preacher. They were married five years later, in June of 1960, in Keats, Kansas. Donna and Allen were married 31 years, during which time son David Victor Tilley was born in Faribault, Minnesota, and son Troy Allen Tilley was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. Following graduation from high school, Donna worked at a travel agency, and then as a bank teller. Later in life, she returned to those early roots and became a travel agent. Donna always loved to travel, and took great pleasure in creating adventures for others. Donna was an incredibly kind, caring, and selfless woman and mother. Her smile lit up a room, and one could never find a more genuinely nice and sweet-natured person. She put everything into raising her two boys, and was a dear friend and surrogate mom to many others that came into her life. She will be deeply missed. She was preceded in death by her brothers, Dean Roland Hays and Duane Henry Hays. Donna is survived by her sons, David and Troy, daughter-in-law Bonnie Elaine Tilley, and grandsons Greyson David Tilley and Rhys Harrison Tilley. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 23, 2018, at Mulkey-Mason Funeral Home in Lewisville, Texas and on Monday, June 25, 2018 at Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home in Manhattan, Kansas. In Memoriam donations may be made to: Alzheimer’s Foundation of America - www.alzfdn.org |
