Peter Vlok Tillinger

PETER VLOK TILLINGER


May 31, 1957 – November 3, 2025

(Celebrations of Life in the USA and South Africa - details below)

Peter Vlok Tillinger passed peacefully into eternal life on November 3, 2025, in Round Rock, Texas, in the loving embrace of his husband, Werner. Peter faced cancer with remarkable courage, humility, gratitude, and an unwavering faith in Christ. He lived each day as if it was his last and did so with an aplomb and calm strength that grounded his joyful spirit. Peter inspired all who knew him with his stoic and stately handsome presence.

Born Petrus “Pieter” Vlok on May 31, 1957, in Groblersdal, South Africa, to Jan Wynand Willem and Johanna “Joey” Cornelia (de Beer) (born Roos) Vlok, Peter had one older sister, Echo Louise de Beer, whom he lovingly called “ousus,” or big sister. Their age difference being twenty-four years, Peter grew up as the only child at home with his parents. His nephew, Johannes “Hannes,” and niece, Hannelie, were his childhood contemporaries and he remembered them fondly throughout his life, maintaining communication with them to his last day on earth.

Peter was a deeply pensive and sensitive young man whose soul was born of music. His gifts for piano, dance, and song developed from an early age and as a youngster, he happily lost himself in music. This total immersion in music continued his entire life. After grammar school, Peter studied at the Johannesburg Art, Ballet and Music School and later at the University of Pretoria, aspiring to become a professional ballet danseur, flamenco Bailaor, and classical concert pianist. Political and social realities in 1970s South Africa, however, shattered those dreams, but not his love of the arts.

After serving in the South African Police band, Peter joined South African Airways in 1977 as a flight attendant, traveling extensively across Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the United States. In 1984, he joined Luxavia, flying between Johannesburg and Luxembourg, which allowed him to continue exploring Europe during layovers and to broaden his world.

During a Luxembourg layover in 1987, Peter met the love of his life, Werner Tillinger of St. Louis, Missouri. Their connection was soulful and immediate. After four years of long-distance devotion, Peter immigrated to the United States in 1991. He worked for American Airlines in Chicago, New York, and later San Francisco, where he became a chief purser on premier transcontinental routes.

San Francisco became home, and in 1996, Peter and Werner fulfilled their dream of living in San Francisco’s Corona Heights neighborhood.
Following his airline career, Peter built a professional life in banking, corporate, and financial services roles, including positions with California Federal Bank, The Walt Disney Company, Williams-Sonoma, Landmark Property Management, and Morgan Stanley. The nineties were glorious years to experience San Francisco in its heyday. Peter and Werner were living a dream.

Peter and Werner transitioned to friendship in 1998, taking what would become a circuitous detour from their partnership. In 2005 Peter was recruited by a South African global graphic design firm in Cape Town and returned to his native South Africa. Though continents apart, their bond endured. Peter and Werner met for a Serengeti camping safari in 2006 and vacationed in South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains in 2011.

In 2017, after Peter visited the USA for the first time in twelve years, their love rekindled. Both Peter and Werner realized again, even more so, that there was no greater joy for them than to be together. Werner proposed to Peter within days of Peter‘s return to South Africa. Peter answered with a resounding yes and returned permanently to the United States. Peter and Werner married in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA on September 17, 2019. Peter proudly became a U.S. citizen on March 3, 2023, realizing a lifelong dream.

Peter fully embraced life. Together, he and Werner traveled widely, visiting national parks across the United States and destinations throughout Europe, Mexico, the South Pacific, Africa, Hawaii, Latin America, the Caribbean. and beyond. Their “thing” as a couple was to create memories through adventure. Despite significant physical challenges, Peter walked over 9 miles one day in his favorite city, Prague, climbed and walked the entirety of Dubrovnik’s famed walls, and went open water scuba diving in Fiji. Peter and Werner attended musical, theater, ballet, and opera performances, many on Peter’s bucket list, including in New York, Dallas, Santa Fe, Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Verona, Budapest, and Prague. In October 2025, shortly before his passing, Peter fulfilled a lifelong wish to visit Bydgoszcz, Poland — his mother’s ancestral home — finding deep peace and closure there.

Peter and Werner shared a deep faith in Christ, which sustained them in the valleys of their lives. In Peter’s final days, he and Werner found a joyful peace knowing they would meet again. Peter drew his last breath after a final gentle kiss while held in Werner’s arms. Their bond transcends time. Their love, divine.

Peter was preceded in death by his parents and sister. He is survived by his beloved husband Werner Helmut Tillinger of Round Rock, Texas; parents-in-law Jake and Marie Tillinger of Round Rock, Texas, sister-in-law Elaine (Seth Haywood) Tillinger of Jerome, Michigan; brother-in-law Helmut (Diana) Tillinger,
nephew, Michael, and niece, Brianna, of Round Rock, Texas; nephew Johannes van der Merwe (Neliè) of St. Helena Bay, WC, South Africa, grandniece Ingrid (Jaques Malan) van der Merwe of Magoebaskloof, Limpopo, South Africa, grandnephew Izak Schalk (Victoria) van der Merwe of Tzaneen, Limpopo, South Africa; niece Hannelie van der Merwe of Bateman’s Bay, New South Wales, Australia; and many dear friends and former coworkers around the girdled Earth.

Peter will be remembered for his faith, refined artistic soul, love of travel, devotion to music, compassion for animals, and his enduring capacity to love deeply and faithfully.

Family, friends, and former coworkers are warmly invited to celebrate and remember Peter on

• May 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM in Dallas, Texas USA; American Cancer Society Gene and Jerry Rice Family Hope Lodge, 210 N. Hall St., Dallas, TX 75246;
Please RSVP by April 27, 2026 to [email protected]

and on

• 31 May 2026 at 15:30 in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa at The Cellars-Hohenort, 93 Brommersvlei Rd, Constantia Heights, Cape Town 7806, WC, South Africa. Please RSVP by 24 May 2026 to [email protected].


I lieu of flowers and to honor Peter’s legacy, please consider donating to

American Cancer Society Gene and Jerry Rice Family Hope Lodge - Dallas, TX via this link:

https://raiseyourway.donordrive.com/events/676/donate

A personal note from Werner: Peter was my soulmate, life partner, sole devotion, and unbreakable confidante. His stoic sufferance and unflappable faith in the face of challenge are gifts I will carry with me into eternity. Sweetie, I love you and can hardly wait until our next adventure. You will always be my hero - my handsome knight in shining armor.