Toney Garlan Quillen

AMAZING GRACE

Toney Garlan Quillen was born to Jim & Reva Quillen in Rugby, Virginia on May 11, 1942. He died in Richardson TX on February 6, 2026. His Celebration of Life will be February 28, 2026, at First United Methodist Church in Rockwall, Tx @ 11:00 AM.

Toney arrived in Dallas in grade school and attended North Dallas High School. After high school, he joined the Navy. After bootcamp, he was assigned to Midway Island. A year later, he was transferred to his last assignment at Whidbey Island Naval Station, Oak Harbor Wash.

While in the Navy, he developed a lifelong love of aircraft mechanics. His start into this field was fueling aircraft. After leaving the Navy, his dream was to work as an aircraft mechanic at Braniff Airways. He was able to fulfill that dream. On his first day at Braniff, he told me he would be in management within 5 years. He made his goal in 3 years because of his excellent work ethic.

After Braniff’s demise, he began working in the Purchasing Dept. of Southwest Airlines. He retired as Director of Heavy Maintenance at SWA. During both jobs, he worked heavily with the purchase of Boeing Aircraft and the FAA. He was highly regarded for his quality of work.

After his retirement, he started QAC – Quillen Aircraft Consultants. During that time, he became Vice-President of Maintenance of a start-up airline, Skybus Airways out of Columbus, Ohio.

From childhood, one of his loves was fishing – starting from a string and safety pin in Virginia creeks to being able to fish for all kinds of fish worldwide. But, his long-lasting love was fishing East Texas lakes, especially Lake Fork for largemouth bass with his buddy, Loyd Gore. He loved teaching others to fish. His other hobbies included cooking and baking. We will miss his steamed clams, cole slaw, pot pies, pastas and wonderful chocolate pies. He was also known for his love of eating.

He was a very caring and loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Carolyn Marcell Quillen. Both Toney and I want to give praise to God for His compassion, mercy, grace and Love extended to us in those 65 years.

We were blessed with 4 children – Michele Quillen, Toni Nutter (Chris), Bryan Quillen and Melanie Giovenzana (Giuseppe).

He is survived by his siblings – Tena Roden (David), Reta Owens (Buck), Danny Quillen (Margie), Lisa Offield (Eddie) and Leah Newman (Michael) and predeceased by his brother, David Quillen.

Grandchildren – Stacy, Tiffany, Heather (John), Eric (Carolyn), Joshua (Valerie), Aubri, Paisley, Megan, Ashley (Manuel) and Eloise. Great grandchildren – Trinity, Kenzie, Dominic, Jordan, Rose, Benny, Beckett, Henrik, Mia Eloise and Tommaso Liam. We also want to include our extra family from Washington – Jodi, Laci (Carlos) and their children Eleanor and Henry.

He fought his many illnesses for over 15 years bravely. Our family would like to thank the employees of Colonial Oaks Assisted Living in Garland and Appletree Court in Richardson for their excellent care of him over the last 2 years with special regard to Kelly, Elecia, Claudia, Martha and Josh of Anchor of Hope Hospice. They treated him with such loving care as well as taking care of me.

Toney, you do not live in this world or in your earthly body any longer, but our family and I will always love you and hold you close in our hearts. We will miss you always, but we know because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we will see you later. I am so relieved that you are not going through all that suffering any longer, I love you so much.

Thank you for being my husband. Carolyn