Virginia Canote Tillitt

Virginia Canote Tillitt, 98, of Hannibal, Mo. passed away at 5:15 a.m. Thursday, May 22, 2014, at Beth Haven Nursing Home. Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Fifth Street Baptist Church. Rev. Tom Sneed and Bro. Justin Mosher will officiate. Burial will be in the Grand View Burial Park. Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until the time of the service Tuesday at the church. The Smith Funeral Home and Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Virginia was born September 17, 1915, in Hannibal, Mo. the daughter of Joseph Wilbur and Jane Fenton (Swetnam) Canote. She married William (Bill) Finley Tillitt, Jr. on January 27, 1946, in Hannibal, Mo. He preceded her in death on January 20, 2001. Virginia graduated from Hannibal High School in the class of 1933 and attended college for one year at Hannibal LaGrange College. In 1934 when Mr. F.T. O'Dell bought Grand View Burial Park she was hired as Secretary-Bookkeeper for the Cemetery. In 1942 she went to work for the Chicago-Burlington-Quincy Railroad as Secretary to the Master Mechanic. She later transferred to the coach yards in St. Louis working for Mr. O.C. Moore. After the war she returned to Hannibal and retired in September of 1975 from the Burlington-Northern Railroad. Survivors include one sister, Louise Timbrook, and her husband, W.C. (Tim), of Hannibal, Missouri, and two nieces, Jovanna Timbrook of Hannibal, Missouri, and Letty May Dunahay of Aurora, Colorado. Mrs. Tillitt was also survived by special friends, Janet Lampton of Hannibal, Missouri, Sun Spangler Sinclair of Hannibal and J.R. Spangler of Hannibal. In addition to her parents and her husband, Mrs. Tillitt was preceded in death by one sister, Betty Jo Geronsin, and three nephews, Kenneth C. Timbrook, Larry Shriver, and Dale Shriver. Virginia was an active member of Fifth Street Baptist Church, where she taught fifth and sixth grade girls Sunday School for two years and the four and five year olds for over fifty years. She was a charter member of the Mary Hinton Morris Club, a Past Matron and fifty year member of the Crown and Scepter Chapter # 1, O.E.S. and presently a member of the Lighthouse Chapter #194, O.E.S. Memorials may be made to the Fifth Street Baptist Church or to the Donor's Choice, in care of Smith Funeral Home and Chapel. Online condolences can be offered to the family at www.smithfuneralhomeandchapel.com