Colleen Faye Tilley

1936 - 2022

Colleen Faye Tilley

1936-2022

EVERETT, WA - Colleen Faye Tilley, 86, died December 4, 2022, at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.

She was born Colleen Faye Howes on January 9, 1936, in Ogden, Utah to Vera (Ross) Howes and Kenneth Victor Howes.

She had an older brother, Ross, an older sister, Dona, a younger brother, Thomas, and a younger sister, Patricia.

Colleen was born during the Great Depression to loving parents, an immigrant father from England and a second-generation Utah mother. As the country went from the paucity of the Depression to the restrictions of WWII, she quickly learned self-sufficiency and the rewards of hard work by taking care of the garden and the chickens and by helping her mom with household duties and with the younger siblings. She also nearly always had a paying job growing up.

Colleen went to Weber High School in Ogden, Utah and thrived. Her high school yearbook chronicled many of her activities: Student Body Secretary, Secretary of Region 1, Dance Guild, Theater ("You Can't," "Seven Sisters"), Sketching and Painting, as well as organizing several fundraisers. Interestingly, the Ogden Standard-Examiner informed their readers that Colleen would be working at Yellowstone the summer after her graduation.

After high school, Colleen met an athletic, handsome young man from Twin Falls, Idaho, Dale Tilley, who was playing baseball for Utah State University in nearby Logan. In 1958, they married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They went on to become the parents of six boys.

Anyone who got to know Colleen realized her creative talent. She had many opportunities to use her abilities with her boys' projects, church activities, holidays, and gatherings. When needed, Colleen coached her boys' ball teams. She taught them how to care for all the frogs, insects, spiders, snakes, lizards, birds, etc., her kids caught. She made sure everyone was prepared for school, sports, and activities. She insisted that her sons learn how to cook and take care of themselves. Once her youngest was in school, she began substitute teaching, providing her another outlet for her talents. But, if there was a theme for Colleen's life, it would be sacrifice. She made hers a life of setting aside personal pursuits to make sure those she loved were taken care of. She was often grieved by her sons' mistakes and didn't always agree with their choices, but she always let them know her love was unconditional. As is often the case, her children knew very little of what she gave up and how hard she worked to raise them to be successful men, until long after they were raised.

Colleen, Dale, and the boys lived in Roy, Utah until 1971. They then relocated to Wendell, Idaho until 1974, north to Harrison, Idaho until 1977 and then south to Hazelton, Idaho. Once Dale retired, and the boys were out of the house, they moved to the Seattle area, settling down on Camano Island. Colleen's husband of almost 57 years died in 2015.

She was also preceded in death by her parents, Kenneth and Vera Howes, her brothers, Kenneth Ross Howes and Thomas Edwin Howes and her sister, Dona Lavelle Howes. She is survived by her six sons, Michael (and wife Jennifer), Jay (Alisa), David (Jacqui), Robert (Kimberly), Chad (Jeanette), and Pat (Jennifer), by thirteen grandchildren, one great-grandson, many, many nieces and nephews, and by her sister, Patricia Brown.

Colleen will be laid to rest at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, La Conner, Washington, on January 4, 2023. Services will be held at the Camano Island LDS Church at 10:00 a.m.